What am I thankful for ...
Crazy but I struggle with the public gratitude thing. I'm thankful for so many things in my life, but it sometimes feels ingenuous to carry on about it in public. Of course, this opinion is not in vogue. Advice frequently is ... you would be happier only if you kept a gratitude journal or if you 'practiced' regular thankfulness. While I agree, I think it is the private reflection that provides the most peace for me. So next week I will find something else here.
And I am thankful I can do that! :-)
Discovery time ....
This weekly snap shot - My Life List - is a great way to keep connected on the blog. I get to chat about a variety of topics in a brain dump style.
Outside my window ...
Hot, moist, sometimes stormy. In fact, last week when I took the puppy out for his first walk of the day, something had hatched a bunch of wormy things on my sliding glass door. Gross! I could never live in the tropics.
Inside my window ...
Air conditioning!! No worms on the outside (or inside) of my sliding glass today. Life is good. Ha!
What I am reading ....
I am reading the second book in The Olivia Series by Yael Politis. The first book was called Olivia, Mourning. The second is called The Way the World Is. And the title certainly fits. This book picks up the Olivia story with no gap in the action and includes a bit of the Underground Railroad prior to our Civil War. The underground railroad was a secret effort by abolitionists to rescue slaves from the southern slaves states to northern territories in Canada. Thankfully I was never raised with prejudice against different races so the attitudes of the pre civil war era seem terribly foreign to me. It can certainly be said our country has made large strides in race relations, but I believe it will be many generations (if ever) before the human race is color blind. Until we stop handing down our prejudices to our children, the theme of this book, The Way the World Is, will sadly continue to ripple through our human experience over and over again. This is a very good series.
What am I watching on TV ...
This past week I re-discovered America's Got Talent. There are some remarkably gifted people. What appeals is that you never know what is coming out on the stage next. Each audition is entirely different. Singing, dancing, magic acts, circus style acts, even some that defy categorization. And the exceptional talents are balanced by the hysterically funny but terrible 'talents.'
And I am still watching Nurse Jackie on Netflix. There are 7 seasons and I am in season 4. Happy One, one of my friends and readers, said she stopped watching when it got too depressing. The story line has had serious and humorous elements, but I can see now the serious side of this story is starting to monopolize the episodes.
What am I creating ...
I started a new shawlette pattern this week called The Holden. No pictures of my work to show yet because I am in the early stages. Maybe next week. But here is a picture of someone else's finished project.
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| Credit: https://espacetricot.wordpress.com/2012/06/15/free-pattern-friday-holden-shawlette/ |
I love this pattern. I am hoping the lace edging is not to challenging. The shawl can be made in several sizes - this picture shows a full shawl size. I plan to make a shawlette this time - smaller scarf-like version. But I have several yarn choices lined up for larger versions of this pattern.
What I am pondering ...
I love, love, love knitting. I have dabbled into related fiber pursuits like spinning and weaving. They fall in the "like" category. Not in the "love, love, love" category. I often wonder why it is that some hobbies bring great joy to one individual while other individuals find great joy in something else. Guess it is the beautiful part of being complex creatures. To bad that "love, love, love" feeling we have for various activities doesn't spill over into our interpersonal relationships with other human beings who are different from ourselves.
A quote I quote ...
“Properly practiced,
knitting soothes the troubled spirit,
and it doesn't hurt the untroubled spirit either.”
My week - a Peek ...
More dogs, more knitting, more walking, and more downsizing.
In the continued search for a place to move, the common theme is - the space we move to will be small. My desires have crystalized over the last few months. Location and condition are everything. Size falls further down the wish list. Downsizing efforts now will make that move easier whenever to happens.
What keeps me awake at night ....
Actually I am sleeping a little better lately. Ha! So nothing is keeping me awake - except for some restless legs between 3:00 am and 6:00 am - and even that is much reduced!
Word of the Year ... Move!
Getting my step count up has been a challenge, especially coming off a week of puppy watching. Yes, I was moving, but it wasn't always the kind of movement captured well on a pedometer.
But I have a new 'mind trick' to keep me moving. Here is a picture of my Bullet Journal tracking system - the method I am using in June to document my progress. Simple, easy to maintain and visual.
I have a ways to go to reach 10,000 steps consistently. Without intense focus on the daily numbers, however, this method shows the trends - the big picture -which is all that really counts for me right now. At my age, it isn't about the distance, or the time or the speed ... it is about moving.
I know electronic devices can provide this history with fancy grafts far better than my simple efforts, but I am not so bitten by the electronic bug that everything is better on that platform. I prefer the analog methods.
My initial goal continues to be 10,000 steps a day. But 12,000 to 13,000 steps a day would be better. I believe the health benefits will be more remarkable in that range.
One step at a time. I will get there.
2 comments:
I don't like baring my soul in public, either, in good or bad ways. And even though sometimes I want to pour out my struggles, I am ever mindful that once out there, it can be seen by anyone and is not easy to erase . . . something my mom taught me growing up. Since my struggles most often involve husband and son, I need to keep them to myself.
I do agree with you about being publicly thankful! It tends to be more for the reader than the writer! In my opinion. The books you are reading sound good. I will have to look into them. I don't know if the race issues of America will ever end. I firmly believe they can. But it will take a huge committement from both sides. I sometimes get the feeling that those who feel the white race is at fault don't want to give up those beliefs. It is done. It is in the past. We are all human. I wish we could just drop the labels. I don't see that happening!! ANd that is very sad to me. I was not raised to see prejudice either. But I can see it NOW. Sadly!! Love the picture of the shawlette. So delicate. Have a nice week Elaine!
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