Rain!

We actually had rain last night, almost a whole inch.  Too late, I think, to help the corn crop in this area, but it will ease the drought a bit.  I won’t say plants look perkier but they do look less droopy…  Hopefully it will help farmers with the vegetable crops, the selection at the farmer’s market hasn’t been the greatest.  The storm that dropped the rain moved some of the very hot weather out, so we have the windows open.  It’s still quite humid, and the heat is coming back. I’m getting more used to the heat, though.  On Sunday Madeline and I went to the Art Fairs on and off the Square in Madison, with a friend and her daughters.  It was in the 90s and sunny, very hot, but I was fine.  I used to positively wither in weather like that.

This past weekend was a big one for son Jacob.  He passed the check ride for his CFII certification.  He is now a certified flight instructor for both private pilot and instrument.  This is good because he is now eligible to be an instructor at the school he attends, and because it means that the bulk of his flight training is over.  So a big milestone for him, and he’s about the happiest he’s ever been.
On Tuesday Madeline and I went up to American Players Theatre with the Shakespeare group she belongs to.   There were about 30 of us total, we saw Twelfth Night.  I’d already seen it a few weeks ago, and although well done I didn’t care for the story and could have lived without seeing it again but they needed drivers.  I did enjoy meeting some of the other parents, and it was fun to see the kids enjoying the show and talk about it.  There was a Q&A session with the cast afterwards and the kids really enjoyed that.  They even had a chance to talk to one of the actors as they walked down the hill– very special.  Altogether very worthwhile, but it made for a late night, we didn’t get home until 1 am.  I still haven’t caught up on sleep.

Speaking of American Players, Madeline and I are going up again on Saturday to see Royal Family.  Sometimes I think I’m crazy to spend so much time and money on APT, but the truth is it is something she and I both enjoy.  It’s kinda our thing, and really not the worst way to spend out time or money.

I went through CPR certification this past Saturday, which was very interesting.  Although, as another not-so-young person in the class said, it’s real hard on the knees.  It’s actually a good feeling, though, to know that I can perform CPR, use an AED, and help a choking person.  A big responsibility too, of course.  One of my class mates is also starting the PTA program this fall, so it was nice to see a familiar face.

I’ve managed to keep up the bike rides as time allows and feel better for it.  The eating right part is not going so well– easy to fail on that when I’m busy.  But I keep working at it– small steps forward!

I have the day off today which is wonderful.  I have some things to get done today so I’ll be busy, but a break from the cafe is good.  We’ve been busy, and that is a blessing and I’m grateful for it.  For the most part customers have been great, but there have been a few days where the tips have been pretty poor, in spite of good service.  That wears me down a bit.  So I’ll enjoy the day off.  We need to start getting ready for our vacation, coming in a week and a half!  I am so looking forward to that.

Aahhhhh!!

The week of Independence Day was incredibly hot and humid here in Wisconsin, but this week has been much better.  Still warm but not so muggy, and it was a pleasure to turn of the AC and open the windows again.  I am grateful for AC for the relief it brings, but I hate having the house all shut up, it makes me feel claustrophobic.

I have not been biking as much as I had hoped to.  I have all kinds of reasons (or excuses) not to– it’s too hot, it’s too late, I’m too tired, I don’t have enough time.  On Sunday, when the hot weather broke, I took a short ride, on the little loop I’d found earlier this summer.  I timed it and it takes about 20-25 minutes to do.  It’s not as long a ride as I would like to do, but 25 minutes is better than 0 minutes. I almost always have 25 minutes to spare in the evenings. So, I am going to commit to taking that 25 minute ride every evening, and will do a longer one when time allows.  So far I have kept it up. I’ve also been doing some strength exercises in the morning.

I went to the doctor for my yearly check up last week, and she made it clear it’s time to exercise and get in shape, so that has been the impetus behind all this.  I’m going to try to eat better, too.  My cholesterol is high.  I’m 49, and if I don’t start making these changes now, when do I think I will?  Plus I want to be in good shape physically when I start my clinical courses in late August.

Time to get cracking!

 

Bike Ride!

I took my first longer bike ride of the season, and by longer I mean not all that long, maybe a couple miles but long for me.  It felt good, not only because it was exercise but because I was outside, and it is nice out today.   I have a set  route I usually do but couldn’t go that way because of road work, so I went a different way.  It takes longer to get out of town this new way but I like it better.  It’s part of the same route I usually do but I’m doing it backwards.   There are still plenty of hills but they are lower and longer, so I’m working longer though maybe not as hard.  The only down side was that there were quite a few cars on the road, but I think that will be better after school gets out in a month or so… hope so.  I don’t enjoy inhaling car fumes, but then who does? I’m thinking that “quite a few cars” is a relative term, I was passed by a total of 6 in the half-hour I was riding.  But usually I only see one or two.

My little side flower garden is looking good.  Last year I pulled out a lot of the bleeding hearts, and I planted some perennials: forget-me-nots, wild geranium, anemones.  For the 6 years that we lived out in the country, one of my greatest joys was walking through our woods in the spring and looking at the wildflowers.  We had anemones, wild geraniums, wild daffodils, violets (purple, yellow, white), may-apples, wild orchids.  So I’ve tried to recreate a bit of it here.  The forget-me-nots I planted because we often see them up in Grand Marais.  The little forget-me-nots are blooming, the geraniums are about to, and the anemones are blooming.  It makes me very happy to see them as I walk by on my way to work.  I also planted mint and lemon balm last year, and they are both coming up.  I planted chives and parlsey last year, the parley made it through the winter but the chives did not, which surprises me.  But I’ve gotten some chives from friends and planted them so we shall see.  My oregano doesn’t seem to have made it, but it may just be slow.  Or maybe it isn’t a perennial, but it seems I remember it taking over at one house I lived at…  I will plant more herbs this year, and maybe some lettuce or something.  It would have been a good year to plant peas, it has been cool after our initial heat wave in March.

It’s a quiet evening and the last glow of light in the sky to the west is very pretty.  I feel good tonight!

 

 

My eyes are tired

My eyes are tired because I finally finished reading The Robe, covering the last 200 or so pages in the last 24 hours.  I just couldn’t put it down.  It’s an amazing book and provided lots of food for thought.  I haven’t really processed it all yet.  In one review I read, the reviewer said the book had made him or her feel more confident about speaking out and practicing  the Christian faith.  It is definitely a book that does that, it makes me want to be more open about my own faith. I feel I practice my faith well, but I do not share it with people– I am reluctant to speak about my faith.  This book really challenged me to speak up!  I may write more later– or I may not.

I had asked a former teacher to write a letter of recommendation for me recently and hadn’t heard back.  It was depressing me, because she had always been very encouraging to me as a teacher.  I finally heard back– she had been busy, but would be glad to write the letter– whew!  This is for a scholarship, and they really want an instructor’s letter, and she was really my only option.   I am not only grateful because I need it, I am also grateful because I truly value this woman’s opinion.

Madeline and I took a bike ride this afternoon– it was a beautiful spring day today.  There was an intensely blue sky with white puffy clouds overhead, the grass was so incredibly, impossibly green.  Lots of trees are starting to bloom, and the daffodils and hyacinth and tulips are blooming and beautiful.  The violets ae coming up too, and I see rhubarb growing as I walk around the neighborhood.

Speaking of blooming plants– a little over a month ago I started taking a spoonful of locally produced honey everyday.  This is supposed to help with allergies– my parents do this and find it helpful.  I am not symptom-free, but I am much better than usual.   So I’m convinced.

Also– I am glad I set my goal to write everyday.  I wouldn’t have written tonight otherwise.

A Lovely Sunday

On Friday as I walked home from work, the tree branches caught my eye.  I thought I had seen a touch of green or something, out of the corner of my eye, but when I looked closer they seemed as bare as ever.  Yesterday I didn’t really look or notice anything.  But today, the trees are all budding!  Our flowering cherry already has leaves, the silly thing.  It’s too early, of course, but I can’t blame the trees, we’ve had a good week or more of warm, lovely weather.  Even the nights have been warm. it’s so strange (but wonderful) to sleep with the windows wide open.

The kids returned last night from their trip to visit their grandparents (their dad’s parents).  They had a nice time in Florida and enjoyed themselves.   I enjoyed having some time to myself this past week, but it was good to have them home.  Today we had a wonderful family day. with waffles for breakfast.  Then we sat around and talked and caught each other up on things.  For lunch we actually cooked burgers on the grill,  followed by strawberry glacee pie for Jacob’s belated birthday.  This afternoon Madeline and I took a bike ride and Jacob joined us on his push-scooter.  We all felt out of shape (first bike ride of the year!) but we enjoyed ourselves.

In a little while Jacob heads back to college and we probably won’t see him until Easter.  Madeline and I head back to our busy regular lives.  I wish we’d had a little more time together but we certainly made the most of what we had.

The Ides of March

No need to beware the Ides of March this year.  It’s another incredibly warm and beautiful day.  After I got home from work I spent some time doing yard work.  I really need to rake up the leaves, but I have nowhere to put them– I need to buy some big bags to bag them up.  Usually our city has free yard waste drop-off on certain dates, but I don’t see a schedule for it yet on the city website, so I may be forced to bag it up and pay $2/bag to have the city take it away.  I do compost, but I have way too many leaves to put in there.  This is one of the things that makes me miss living in the country– dealing with yard waste.  I seem to produce a lot of yard waste in spite of the fact that my yard is tiny.  Of course, much of the leaves come from my neighbors’ trees, which hang over my lawn and house, dropping leaves and branches and, in one case, black walnuts all over my yard (and in my gutters).  It hardly seems fair.  I’ve considered calling a tree service to have them trimmed back, but since both trees are near power lines it would be a bit pricey.  I’ve given up hoping that either neighbor will have the trees trimmed or removed– that’s just not going to happen.

When I was done with the yard work, I immediately hauled up one of my porch chairs, grabbed my laptop, and headed for the porch, which is where I am right now as I write this.  It’s glorious.  The sun is low in the west, it’s still quite warm out, the air smells good and the birds are singing.  I’ve been anxious to do this since the weather warmed but haven’t had time.  I’m tempted to bring up all the porch furniture but fear I’ll be tempting fate if I do so.

This afternoon at work I was busy making salad dressings and helping with clean-up.  A customer (with whom I am acquainted) was sitting up front knitting while she waited for her daughter to get out of school.  As I stumped around the kitchen on my tired feet I found myself snarkily thinking that I wished I had time to sit around and knit.  Then I remembered that at one point, I did.  When the kids were younger, we would often get together with other families, and the kids would play while the moms talked.  I would often knit then.  It was a pleasant time in our lives, when we would enjoy fun and fellowship.  I’m still in touch with a few of those friends, but some of us have drifted apart, which is okay– we didn’t have a lot in common other than homeschooling and mothering, and for some of us that is no longer the defining thing in our lives.  I cherish those memories, though, and the peace it brought to my spirit.  It occurred to me that this woman may not have had friends that she could be with in that way.  So I cut the snark and ended up chatting with her for a few minutes.

An interesting thing I remember about those get-togethers:  the husbands of the other woman (I was divorced by then) were very envious of the time we spent on these days.  It would usually take up a whole afternoon and sometimes go into the evening.  One certain woman usually hosted, she had a nice big house out in the country.  Her husband, who for the record was a very nice man, definitely seemed bothered by it, and seemed to think that both the moms and the kids were wasting time.  I think she felt guilty, so she started trying to schedule activities for the kids during that time, educational activities.  That way the afternoon wouldn’t be considered wasted.  I didn’t care for it, neither did most of the moms, and I’m reasonably certain all the kids hated it. I think there is great value in free time.  If I recall correctly, the gatherings stopped fairly soon after that.  That may not have been why, it may just be that the whole thing ran its course and we all moved on to other things.

I’m enjoying my own free time on the porch right now. I see people on bikes– I need to get my bike out and the tires pumped, I definitely want to bike more this year. I can smell a neighbor lighting up the grill– now there’s an idea.

Bicycle

I just took my first bike ride of the year.  I’ve been wanting to get the bike out for ages but the weather has been too cold, or too rainy, or too windy.  Today, however, is a beautiful, clear, cool, breezy day.  This evening, after I dropped my daughter off at karate, I buzzed home, changed, pumped up the tires and off I went.

I didn’t take a real long ride, just one of my standard easy rides.  I just head out on a road south of town and loop back.  It’s a nice loop with lots of little hills and 2 tough ones, the roads aren’t too busy and the scenery is nice.   Spring is in full swing here, and I rode past lush green fields and some newly planted ones.  I passed some cows out in a meadow, too.  Along the roadsides there were violets and lilacs and wild plums and blooming shrubs and trees of all kinds.  I’m quite sure I saw some wild strawberries blooming in one spot!  The air was fresh and smelled of new-mowed grass.

I am rather out of shape, and the hills were a bit tough but I kept at it, slow and steady. I didn’t stop once.  It was a good workout, I definitely feel it in my quadriceps, but in a good way.  Hopefully it will be the first of many, I intend to ride every day possible until autumn.

A Day Off

I had the day off from work today.  The cafe where I work is closed for two days for cleaning/equipment maintenance.  I had the option of working but decided to take the time off.  I’ve just felt like I haven’t seen much of my kids, especially my son, and he heads back to school in 2 weeks.  Also, we are leaving on vacation this Saturday so there were things to do…

At the end of the day I for once feel satisfied.  I’ve had many, many days lately where I feel I’ve accomplished little or nothing, but yesterday (which was Sunday) and today I’ve managed to get some things done.

Yesterday I put the bike carriers on my car.  I’ve had them for a month now, but the job of putting them on the car intimidated me.  I finally got up the gumption and got it done.  It was quite simple and took only a few minutes, yet I’m extremely pleased with myself.  I even put my bike on it and took it off, also very easy to do.  Yay!  Last night I roasted a chicken and we all ate dinner together– it was tasty and it was wonderful to sit down together.

Today I tidied up, vacuumed, made bread, made spaghetti sauce and froze it to take on vacation. (We rent a place with a kitchen.)  Then my daughter asked if I wanted to go on a bike ride with her.  We did a nice long one, by our standards, we were gone an hour and rode more than four miles but less than ten, I’d say.  The time and distance aren’t important.  It was a beautiful day, clear, dry and sunny, and we enjoyed ourselves.  Green County, Wisconsin is a great place to bicycle.

Supper was bacon, lettuce and tomato sandwiches, using home-made bread and tomatoes from a friend’s garden.  Absolutely delicious, is there anything better than BLTs during tomato season?