Full of Myself?

I listened to something interesting yesterday.

Could it be confirmation bias? Yep. But it's still really interesting to me. 

Here it is in a nutshell ...

There are people who are especially good at recognizing patterns. Can be in multifaceted ways. Seeing through lines. In people. In situations. In decor. All sorts of areas. 

This person will recognize a behavior pattern in a person long before others do (or maybe never recognize). They will see the extent of the pattern and recognize the subtlety more vividly. Good and bad patterns. They can recognize the pattern even before they can describe the evidence of the pattern.

Can you guess why this resonated so strongly?

I feel like I'm sensitive or problematic about people. Get to know someone, and there's THAT problem. I see zebras and no one else seems to be bothered by it. Why does it bother me and not them? Why do they put up with that behavior from this person. Maybe because they DON'T actually see the pattern?!?

I also think I understand people well. I "see" them, understand their behavior. Understand they're hurting. Understand they feel insecure. Understand they need extra TLC. 

Many times I wonder if this is me being full of myself. Do I see them or am I just mirroring? Can I really know what people are thinking? 

But I do this because I see a pattern in their behavior (as I said, good and bad). It's predictable. I know that someone will react a certain way to a question or a situation. I test it. I prove it. 

And I notice if the pattern is interrupted and I look for a reason. This is why I think I'm good at noticing when a friend is hurting. Also good at noticing manipulation. 

Why do I like this idea so much? Because I beat myself up about seeing the "bad" patterns in people. Why do I have to be so sensitive? Can't I roll with it like others do? What's wrong with me? Why am I reacting so strongly? 

Could it be that I'm just able to see it more clearly? Like a person with a heightened sense of smell/taste who becomes a sommelier and can't tolerate less quality wine. I have heightened pattern recognition. 

This served me well as a nurse -- I know it did. I saw patterns before others did and made some interesting "saves" because of it. Once a doctor asked me how I could have possibly known and I said because it wasn't what I expected (the pattern) and I explored why. He said, but how did you expect it? It was a subtle pattern.

Friends will tell me how nice it is that I notice things about them. Or say, how did you know that?

Back to the "bad" patterns. I'm slowly learning to trust myself because I've never been wrong when I recognize manipulation. It might take time, but it's proven correct. 

A strong pattern recognition explains something about me and about others who don't seem to have it. I'm sure there are other things at play too, but this is an interesting lens. 

Do you think I'm full of myself?? Hah. Who knows, probably sometimes, but I think this has merit. 

That's all the chatter I have time for this morning. 

Hope you're having a good day. Later gators.

A Silent Retreat?? If Only!

Peach Fest 2026 done and dusted. 

6 1/2 pints of jelly and 6 pints of canned peaches for me.

I didn't buy the peaches, so I didn't get to take home much -- that's fair.

There were also some errors that ruined about a 1/3 of the peaches.

Worth it?

Not from the end product, but the "kitchen camaraderie" of teamwork, good conversation, easy laughs -- it was a great experience. Would I do it again? Maybe, with some caveats. I learned what I wanted to learn too so look out for Pickle Fest 2027. SMALL batch canning ONLY.

Fruit canning is way, way too much sugar. Maybe I can find a low sugar jam recipe to try. 

Do I have the canning bug? Maybe, just a little. I'd like to play around with it a bit for other things next year. 

Yesterday wasn't exactly a recovery day, but it wasn't 12 hours of canning!

Worked a couple of hours in the garden. It needed a good clean up -- fall planting this weekend. Met neighbors who were walking by and we had a really nice garden conversation. 

Then off for hot wheels play with my grandson. Brought over some homemade banana bread because why not bake something with all my free time lol. It was gone in minutes -- family favorite.

Spent the afternoon in my closet on the first phase of organizing. It's coming together. I'll work on it a little each day this week. I already have a bench full of targeted donations which means a few errands today. The final phase (down the road), will be a detailed purge. I'm only donating the obvious in this phase. Detailed purging requires trying on, thinking, holding, THEN donating. 

(Useless fact about me, returns and donations bother me to no end -- must do both ASAP.)

And now ...

Hello, Monday. 

I have an opportunity to have a clean-slate Monday and I'm taking it. Hubby leaves in a couple of hours for his flight. I'm SLOW, SLOW rolling the morning. I don't need to garden and my workout is indoors so I can putz around all morning.

Doesn't mean do nothing. Quite the opposite. I have so many little ME things I want to do. Some chores, some quiet pleasures. Everything will feel good taken slowly and quietly. The goal today is all little things done mostly in SILENCE that will set up my week well. By silence, I mean NOT TALKING. I'm so talked out. Music, podcasts -- listening is fair game.

I protected calendar space this week too even though it means not seeing a few people for a couple of weeks. Even though the opportunities were fun things. I MUST get better about this balance. I'm still working on what's what for the rest of the week. Trusting myself to make decisions as the day comes. We'll see how it goes lol.

Found this oldie picture on my phone. Oh, how I miss these days of "normal" government. 

P.S. I'm being drawn to cut and darken my hair. I'm not sure it's a "now" thing, but all FS visualization is pointing toward shorter hair. Sort of like this -- maybe more curly and wild and a little longer. I have curly hair that I straighten. 

Okay, off for my only chat today to see hubby off. Then the silent retreat begins. Not really, but that does sound nice. 

Have a good start to the week. Later gators. 

Not a Peachy Mood This Morning

Hello, mood.

I'm sorry, but are you surprised? 

Ying-yang rollercoaster. The 50-50.

I'll try to keep my woes brief (spoiler alert, I didn't).

The problem.

Too dang much on my calendar!!!!!!!

I'm worn out. 

I want to sleep in. 

Slow roll a morning that has so many mandatory things I've lost count. 

I'm rushed from the minute I wake up. 

Go, go, go. 

I'm barely getting out the door on time.

Even when I don't have an obligation on the calendar, I'm up and going to do outdoor things before the heat sets in because it's the only morning I have space to do it. 

Where is a truly NOTHING morning??

Where is time to work on MY goals??

Contemplate. 

Do I sound a little crazy? I feel it this morning. Peach Fest is taking up way too much time. I'm enjoying it (and hopefully enjoying today too), but it's eaten up so much of this week. I've had to backfill other things around it making for an overfilled feeling. I woke up wishing I didn't have to go today. I don't care about canning peaches. I just wanted to see the canning process, spend time with a couple of great ladies, and make some jam (sadly, only jelly). 

Looking down the barrel of a 12 hour day. No early or late window for much of anything. Neck pain galore today. It's too much.

I have a friend visiting next weekend for 4 days. I'm coordinating with a local friend to join us. I'm driving AGAIN. Literally and figuratively. All the plans. All the timing. Up late. Up early. Hosting. Taking care of everyone. Prep ahead. Clean up after. 

September and every weekend is full. Every single one. Already. And, it's stuff I'm leading, planning, coordinating. 

So what am I going to do about it? I complain regularly and loudly -- that's not a solution. I MUST block out more than one little morning occasionally. I need to hold firm to SPACE in my schedule. I need to say no to things that I'd like to do to make this space. 

I'm contemplating a regular commitment to myself. What if most Mondays are clear? All day for me. What if every Tuesday and Thursday is an open morning? Three mornings. One afternoon. Regularly. Not always, but more than occasionally.

No grand declaration. Just a quiet unavailability. 

"Would love to thrift with you, but I'm only available in the afternoon." Doesn't work? Let's try another day. ------- Something like this. Can I do it? I certainly can give it a go with social stuff. Maybe not as much with other volunteer commitments. 

I know when the weather breaks some of this rushed feeling will take care of itself. I can hike later. Run later. Garden later. Dog walk later. 

Okay, I'm out of complaining time. I'm sure you wonder how I complain about not having any morning time and typed this entire rant. I've started and stopped so many times to do things. That's part of the rushed feeling.

Unload the dishwasher.

Let the dog out.

Pack my lunch for today.

Neck exercises. 

Make the bed.

Water the porch plants ... etc. 

Could I use journaling time for other things? Sort of. I can't wake up and workout. I need time to move out the kinks first. Same with meditation -- first thing and I'll just fall asleep. It's dark outside so I can't get in the garden yet. You get the idea.

Anyway, I REALLY am out of time. 

Hope you have a good day.

Hope canning goes more quickly than expected.

Later gators.

Jelly

Peach Fest is rolling now.

We have jelly.

40 half pints.

It's good -- very peachy and sweet. 

Look at the color.

Canned inside.

Day off today while the rest of the peaches ripen. 

Canning 1/2 peaches on Saturday and possibly making jam with the peaches we tried to blanch (they're turning a bit off now). We'll try the HUGE outdoor pot again, but that's where a lot of the trouble started. I'm not convinced, but maybe we learned from our mistakes hah.

I have no idea how we'll finish it in one day. There's so much more to do. It's been a lot of fun though, but is canning my new hobby?!? Still on the fence. Smaller batch canning? Savory instead? Maybe. It's a lot of work with some scary bits. I felt like we were handling a nuclear reactor at times. 

Explosion.

Burn.

All possible -- eeek. 

I had a really lovely, full day. 

FS visualization that's now reality. 

Things I love to do all wrapped up in one day.

I ran. 

I gardened.

I walked Duke.

I walked to errands (dry cleaner and thrift store)

Shopped the thrift store (50% off day -- got a dress, scarf, blazer).

Grabbed an iced tea and finished a good book (5/5). Cried sitting outside. Such a beautiful book.

Heartwarming.
Heartbreaking.
Incredible ending and last page.

Then spent 5 hours canning jelly with beautiful women. Learning. Hearing stories. Laughing. It was amazing. And, lots and lots of pretty jelly.

For some reason, I slept horribly and I feel it this morning. Maybe a bit much on the old bod yesterday. So many neck exercises with added arm rehab too. I'm tired, swollen, rundown. Storms didn't help. They started around 3 o'clock and I was awake from that point. 

I'm going to forego cardio workout today. Recovery day -- listening to my body. 

Still need to do all the neck PT exercises though.

Friday coffee.

4 library book pickup -- geez. Best get reading.

Grocery shopping.

Car service.

Late lunch with hubby. 

EARLY bed. 

Hope your week went well. Later gators.

Off to a Rock-Hard Start

Peach Fest is not going as planned -- eeek, but it's okay. 

I'm taking it in stride and having a good time anyway.

Yea, me.

What happened?

First, my friend had to take a FOUR hour break to walk dogs yesterday -- that's half a day!!!!

Couldn't get the outdoor propane heater to boil the water -- 2 hours before it boiled so we could start blanching (not even canning yet).

Most of the peaches aren't ripe so after many attempts and fails, we are pushing back canning until they ripen -- probably by Saturday. 

I stayed with her mom for those 4 hours. Planned to go run errands so her mom could rest, but she didn't need a rest and commented how happy she was to have company for the afternoon. She just moved into an assisted living apartment. I certainly wasn't going to leave. Lots of nice conversation -- sat outside watching birds and butterflies. My friend has a beautiful backyard space with at least 10 bird feeders. Hummingbirds were buzzing by us all afternoon. Her mom is a delight.

We scrapped making the jam -- the VERY part that pulled me in. Jelly and canned peaches only. Why? Her mom thinks the jelly is the best. Okay. I'm not a big fan of jelly, but it is what it is. 

We prepped the juice for the jelly. It was WORK, but a lot of fun working together. It'll drip overnight.

One of 10 bags we hung.

Cooking down, lots of hand mashing.
Five big pots for jelly prep.

Nicely organized. 

Prep started.

About 1/3 of the peaches.

I'm going to be blunt ... her mom has canned peaches since she was 7 and they've been doing it for decades together, but it seems like they don't know what they're doing this time.

Beautifully organized. 

Lists upon lists. 

And mostly a wasted day. 

I chimed in with some suggestions for today and Saturday, given the outdoor pot problem. 

It was my "insistence" that we wait until the peaches ripen to can. They won't peel after blanching and there's no flavor to them -- rock hard. I used AI to back up my suggestion. It'll be better to do it on Saturday and not waste the beautiful peaches. We all agreed. Caveat is if they ripen by Friday, then I can't help because I have a car service in the afternoon.

This changes the next few days. I've made the adjustments though and am happy with my plan.

I missed the meeting last night -- it was that long of a day. Oh well, there will be a summary posted. So now I'm going to the Friday coffee.

Peach Fest isn't starting until later today since we're just finishing up the jelly and my friend has to dog walk mid-day. It's probably going to be a late evening again though. We are moving so dang slowly with everything. When we "work" it's fast with three of us, but we spend so much time between work wasting time (like waiting for a huge pot to boil).

This gives me my morning back and I need it. I'm going to workout, do my zillion neck exercises, and go to a very local clothing thrift store (I can walk). Then head to coffee with a book and relax before I drive over. The thrift crawl in another town will have to wait. I was in conversation from 8:30 in the morning until 7 o'clock yesterday. I'm glad for some quiet space before it starts again.

On a nice note, and probably absolutely why I'm taking this in stride, her mom bought the very expensive peaches. I don't care what I take home now. She refused the money and said to just do a nice thing for someone -- absolutely and already thinking of ideas to make good on that promise. 

My friend said not to worry, her mom has the money and really wanted to do this. It's extremely generous of her. 

In summary, not at all what I expected. 

Having a great time anyway.

Love the connection.

Learning some things. 

Canning is super time consuming and involved. Not sure this hobby is in my future after all. But maybe it's just our process that's so convoluted lol. Waiting to see. We haven't actually canned anything yet.

Stay tuned ... to be continued ...

Peach Fest 2026

It's Peach Fest 2026!

Look at these beauties!!!

Peaches are purchased.

Jars are prepped.

I'm packed for the day -- drinks, lunch, supplies, gifts. 

Today we're canning peaches. Jam and jelly tomorrow. Early start both days which is a bummer -- she needs to take a break mid-day to walk dogs (her business). Kind of odd -- early morning, break for a couple of hours, and finish up. Not sure what I'm going to do for that time, but I'll make the best of it. 

I'm super excited to learn the process. I have a feeling this'll be something that I start doing with fruits and veggies of the season if it's not too cumbersome. 

I hiked 8 fast miles yesterday and it felt good. The humidity was a tad lower yesterday and you could feel it for the early miles -- cannot wait for fall!!!!!! Spiders in force, but that trail is wide enough to avoid them. They're getting bigger, but not at full size yet. By October they'll be the size of the palm of your hand ... eeekkkk.

As soon as the weather turns, I have to hike a qualifier hike and I'm not ready. I need to be deliberate about hikes in the next month to build up.

Yesterday was such a good day that felt extra good because I got to layer on PROUD of myself. That day could've been so many other variations and I chose what worked for me. Zero regrets. I could've easily talked myself into something different -- there were reasons to support other decisions. Didn't matter, it was the one that was right for me.

Hike.

Lunch with hubby al fresco.

Food prep for the afternoon.

New book for the evening.

Today is going to be a FULL, long, hard-on-my-neck day. Way too full, but no way around it. It's different than yesterday. These are choices I want AND the timing sucks. On days I can make different choices, it helps offset days like today.

I will modify a bit though. The day ends with a 3 hour meeting that'll last until about 10 o'clock. I plan to head out around 9 o'clock. I need sleep for an early day of jam and jelly tomorrow. I might forego sign waving tomorrow evening depending on my neck. Little bits, little choices. 

Well, it's already time to move on. I have to add about 20 minutes of strengthening exercises this morning. Glad for a path forward, but taking care of my basic needs is becoming a full time endeavor lol.

Have a good day. Later gators.

Plans, They Are a Changing

Shift in plans today.

My friend and her mom aren't going to the peach farm until 2 o'clock which didn't leave me enough time to go and pick up my grandson. She offered to buy peaches for me (phew -- it's a 90 minute drive EACH way). 

Then I found out I'm not babysitting (DIL is off work today), but I decided to hold with the me-not-going plan because that's a lot of car riding on my neck and my friend didn't mind at all.

That leaves this morning open for hiking. I COULD go with the Tuesday group, but lunch with "that" person last week was plenty, so I'm solo hiking -- longer, faster than with the group. Late lunch with hubby.

I like that I'm doing what works for me. 

I like that I listened to my body's response to the options. 

I like that I'm letting someone do a small favor for me. 

BTW, PT approved a hike today. 

However, she said I'm not doing the exercises to the full range of motion. Hello, PAIN. Good lord. It feels like my neck is going to break. That's the feeling I'm meant to have. I'm sore today and these hourly movements are no joke, but it's a means to feeling better. I go again in a couple of weeks. 

That said, I can turn my head side-to-side with much better range of motion. I notice it when I'm driving. I'm excited about what's in store when I really open everything up. I have very easy lifting exercises to do too. Every-other-day to start for a few times, then every day. 

Speaking of driving, I decided not to go to Asheville on Friday and most likely, not at all this weekend. Makes little sense if my neck is this problematic. I won't have a good time. And the drive will add to the issue. Looks like late September is the my next trip.

Maybe I can start organizing the closet instead. I'm itching to get it tidy and styled. 

I'm also going to forego Friday coffee and take myself thrifting instead. I need to be back for a car service in the afternoon, but I'll have a couple of hours in the morning. The last many times I've thrifted have been with people and it's not the same. I want a quick look, less driving, easy, focused, not chatting. It's odd, but thrifting with people has taken some of the quiet joy of it. 

This week I'm craving taking care of myself -- and now I'm doing it. Quiet moments for me AND fun social things with people. It's a good balance .

Finishing up finding supplies for canning, I stopped at Walmart and found the cutest set of summer pjs. Wow, Walmart surprised me. Of course, fast fashion and all that, but I'm happy with the treat for myself. It's been a long time since I've had a new set of pjs AND it's in my color palette. Washed it immediately so I could wear it last night. Light, comfortable, modest enough to walk around the house. Love it. 

I'm going to go plan Friday morning thrifting. I really, really like this idea. We have our monthly meeting on Wednesday for 3 hours and that's enough chatter about all the things for this week -- I don't need to connect on Friday about the same things too. When I think about going, I don't feel my usual "yes," the usual "looking forward to it" feeling. Listening to my body's response. 

Could this be the secret to managing my calendar?? Maybe, but it's not always this simple. Or maybe it is?? -- need to experiment a little hah. 

Changing up certain plans are fine, but commitments are different so this go-with-my-feeling might not always work. But it does this week!!!!!

Hope you're having a good week too. Later gators.