A List

Good morning!

Let's do a list (in no particular order).

1. RAIN. 

In droves. 

So needed.

Bummer on a holiday weekend.

2. Had to postpone taming of the tomatoes until today. It's going to be a big project. Also, taking out the one type of pea that's finished and planting more cucumbers. 

3. Grandson over all day yesterday. What a joy! We watched the rain. Played in the rain (when it wasn't storming). Picked from the garden in the rain. Delightful day. I think we're sitting again tomorrow.

4. I'm a itty bit sick. Hope it holds to be just a little bit. 

5. Chiropractor/acupuncture tomorrow. Odd he's open on the holiday, but glad to have an appointment. My shoulder feels much better, but I think I'll get an adjustment anyway. Put the old bod back in alignment. 

6. Texted all day yesterday with 2 women from my local group. I initiated the text and then it went crazy. Books, cooking, crafting, art, gardening, travel. It felt good. This is a group dynamic that I'm enjoying. 

We're all different. Don't agree on everything. Bring different perspectives. I love it. 

7. Which is such a contract to this group dynamic. Tuesday hiking group IS hiking this Tuesday and I made other plans on Tuesday. I'm not going. I have no interest. None. Zero. Zip. 

Why? I don't think I'm super aligned with the group anymore. What started as a "let's get more involved" turned out to be a "let's complain and pretend that makes a difference." 

Where I'm conflicted (still) is I like a number of the women in the group. Can I imagine that this is simply a hiking and lunch group? Okay, but they hike slowly and the hikes are short. Lunch is usually a complaint session about politics. Neither is that interesting to me (I'd rather hike and lunch solo). And this keeps me involved with "that" person. 

My plan is to hike next week with them and see if that brings some clarity. Why not this week? The way the text thread is going, the conversation will be a direction that's prickly. I feel like hiking this week would hold a heavy bias. Looking for a more neutral week to evaluate. 

8. Group dynamics. Complicated. I don't completely trust my perspective. Probably a good topic for coaching. 

9. Thanks to Group Life program I have some ideas for my bookclub. We're taking the summer off and I'm not sure if that'll be the beginning of the end (again). People may completely lose interest. It always hangs by a thread and the thread may have broken. We'll see. And, I'm not sure if these ideas are too far removed from bookclub. I try to keep it a little more interesting than JUST discussing a book. I think the trick is to link the activity with a particular book. Hmmmm. 

This week is a live session workshop in Group Life to get help with a gathering. I'm bringing bookclub to the table. Maybe the group can help troubleshoot the issues. 

10. Once the rain lifts this week, I'm all in on trying to attract a crow friend. So fun! Fingers crossed. 

11. Might be hosting another friend in Asheville in October. Have to work through a conflict of dates first. I'm very happy to be using the house so much again.

Best get going before more rain. Have a great day. Later gators.

Holiday Weekend Begins

Eeeek ... I'm getting sick. No "real" symptoms yet, but I feel rundown in a way that expects something to be brewing.

I'm also having a lot of PVCs -- those heavy, off heartbeats. I can see them on the EKG function on my watch too. In and of themselves, nothing dangerous, but the question to ask is WHY. If it doesn't resolve, I'll need to go to the doctor. 

Might be related to caffeine. I got a little loose and heavy while on vacation. I need to pull off. That, combined with sleep issues and hormones can absolutely be the reason. It feels a bit scary when it happens. My body is so sensitive to things now.

I have a full day today. Skipping a workout which is unusual for me, but I need to listen to my body -- something is off. I might even drive to my Friday meeting -- shock!!! 

I don't feel sick enough for sure to miss the meeting (I don't want to get anyone sick). Maybe, possibly, I'm just rundown. It's not like we're hugging and such so I'll be okay to be around people. 

Lunch with a friend (possibly 2 friends). 

5 o'clock volunteer home visit up north. Hello, holiday weekend traffic. 

Of course, all up for changing if I start to feel really sick. Ugh. There is a price to pay for a big vacation -- before (the work) and after (the recovery). Sometimes I wonder if it's worth it. It is (hard to feel it today though), but it's a reason I'm like time between vacations. 

In some good news. 

Cucumbers are delicious. Woo hoo. Favorite thing to grow. 

I made a version of Cowboy Caviar using garden stuff yesterday. Leftovers for dinner. 

First excellent watermelon of the season. I stuffed myself silly and peed 12 times in 2 hours lol. No chill -- ate the entire container. 

That's all I have time for this morning. Have a good start to the holiday weekend. Later gators.

Short, Sweet, Boring

Well, the bots will be extra bored this morning as I have really nothing to update. 

Hair day. I'm 2 weeks behind because of the trip. I decided to wait until I got back because salt water and chlorine can muck up a fresh keratin. My hair feels too long and my roots are plentiful -- what a difference a couple of weeks makes. It'll feel extra good today.

Am I less jet-lagged? I don't know. I think a little bit. 

Today is really chill. 

No workout (rest day). 

Hair appointment.

Grocery store.

NOTHING else -- what?!!? 

Sofa surfing and TV is on the afternoon agenda. I need to be cautious it doesn't become a junk food fest too, especially with a grocery store run on the agenda. I need recovery, not a food coma. 

That is all I've got this morning. Short, sweet, boring. 

Off to pick the garden. 

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

Go Away, Bots

I really, really, really hate when the bots show up. 

They come, they go.

I wish they'd go.

I wonder what triggers them to come?

I'm fighting the good fight -- jet lag and perimenopause sleep issues combined. 

Dang. 

I'm forcing myself back to a regular schedule. 

I was awake in bed for almost 3 hours last night. 

Sleep, wide awake, sleep, alarm. 

It's a strange schedule. 

No real election results yet, except for disappointments. All the incumbent judges won (people didn't research and just voted for the "non-partisan" incumbents). Spoiler alert ... they aren't really non-partisan. 

K. Bottoms took the nomination for governor and she won't win. We'll have a very mega, rich republican governor elected in November. Again, name recognition without thinking, researching, understanding. Her record as mayor of Atlanta is not good. She's going to be eaten alive. I hope I'm wrong.

Now for some better news. 

The garden ...

First of the cucumbers

Last of the spring peas

She's WILD!!
And over-planted!!!!

I need to do some tending. Probably this weekend. My mornings are all spoken for this week.

In other good news, re-entry is finished. I'm organized and back to my regularly scheduled life ... just jet-lagged. I'm trying to see if forcing a sleep schedule is a better option. It usually takes me a couple of weeks after Hawaii to get back to regular sleep hours letting it all happen naturally. That's too long to be "off." 

Hope your week is going well. Later gators. 

Re-Entry Day(s), Election Day

Hello again this morning.

We landed at 6 am yesterday.

Yesterday (and a little of today) are re-entry day(s). Unpacked, reorganized. Tending to life, but nothing extraordinarily crazy -- just some basics. Trying to get sleep and eating times back to this time zone. No easy feat for me. 

Today is a hardier mix of life-back-to-normal. Yesterday was very basic. Ripping the bandaid on the jet lag. 

Chores this morning ...

Watering indoor plants (ugh).

Tending to a very, very grown garden (yea).

Picking up my porch plants.

Fun this afternoon ...

Pedicure (I go after a beach trip, not before because sand ruins toes immediately!)

Picking up our grandson (I missed him).

Evening tour of their new house (exciting).

I read 7 books over vacation. 2 books each flight. Most were excellent. One was a bust and I left it at the hotel LFL. (Miss Benson's Beetle -- great reviews, but I hated it).

(The flight out is so long ... 2 books 2 movies, and an hour nap). 

I ran out of books, so I got one from the hotel LFL exchange and one from the airport (horrible selection in Hawaii airports and $$$$$). 

Read first Pride and Prejudice for my June book flight.

Remembered to send a postcard from Hawaii to my book penpal. Had a lot of books to list! 

Today is Election Day. I'm hopeful, and a bit nervous, and a bit excited. 

Okay, best get moving. Lots to do this morning and I got up 2 hours later than normal. 

Have a good day! Later gators. 

We're Back

Home sweet home.

(And the bots are back. They come and go -- shocking numbers when they arrive.)

The trip was great. Kauai is my favorite Hawaiian Island -- the beauty is unmatched. I keep a travel journal with all the details day-to-day. 

Quick highlights ...

River flooding in the National Park closed the park so our BIG hike was canceled. Probably a good thing. That area is extraordinarily steep elevation and muddy and it wouldn't have been very fun hiking. We did a smaller steep, muddy hike twice and that was crazy -- slip sliding away, up and down to a beach.

We got in 2 other hikes -- gorgeous and fun. 

Thankfully no spiders.
The path was thick.

All day boat ride with snorkeling. 

We swam with turtles and 2 small sharks (eeek). HUGE swell out of nowhere and I had to ride it up and up. I was scared it was going to break on me, but it didn't. Everyone was a little freaked out. 

When we got to the Napoli Coast the water had such chop from unusual wind directions that over half the boat was puking their guts out. We were fine and we hung out with some nice people. Excellent staff and food too.

Some whales are late heading north and we saw a breach and a blow -- incredible. 

Didn't take many pictures because the northern part of the trip was so crazy. We were flung up, down, slide ways. I didn't want to drop my phone. Very fun, slightly scary. 

Before the waves

Phone took a candid lol.

Excellent food. I ate poke 9 times haha!!

Fresh catch.

Virgin spicy margarita 

GF, vegan, rice pancake
dessert from Farmer's Market

Fancy poke

Local "dive" poke

Acai bowl and nitro

Just for fun. Never really
good though.

We visited 2 Farmer's Markets. This was incredible. Farmer freezes bananas and pineapple from their farm and it gets whipped -- nothing else in it. Tastes like ice cream. Macadamia nut whipped honey (also from their farm) on top. 

Best thing I ate -- I'll
dream of this!!!!!

Lots of goodies not pictured. I ate VERY well. 

Lots of other fun things, but I won't bore you with it all.

Flights were long. 

Jet lag is no joke, both ways. 

Someone hit our rental car. 

Shoulder is "out" again after snorkeling and swimming (appointment next week). 

All worth it. 

AND glad to be home like I can't even tell you!!!!!!  Later gators.

Distraction

A little chat.

Kids are under contract with their new house. Exciting!! They have a lot of work ahead of them  -- inspections, selling their house, moving, etc. This will be some work for us too, but we're happy to help.

Mother's Day was a fun afternoon with the kids and lots of playing cars. 

Did I tell you I had a name change? My grandmother name is "Granny" -- I've wanted this name forever and used it for years with the dogs. Merch everywhere to prove it lol. My grandson re-named me (not anyone else). Not prompted by anyone AND he could say Lamborghini and Grandpa and almost any word. So this wasn't a matter of not being able to SAY Granny. 

He calls me Gee-Gee (not GiGi), but wouldn't call me anything to my face. Ever! As soon as I started referring to myself as Gee-Gee, he says my name constantly. He held out until I made the change. 

My son loves it and says I get the honor of being named by him. It IS very sweet AND I wish it was Granny. We're counting it as a nickname right now and Granny is still my FORMAL grandma name hah.

No matter what he calls me, I adore him, of course.

This chat is sponsored by DISTRACTION as I try to ignore Travel Anxiety. 

Lord help me. It's absolutely annoying that I do this to myself every big vacation. As I said, since I haven't had a big trip for a couple of years, the anxiety is out of control. 

Best get in the shower. See you in 10 days. Later gators.