What I did this summer…so far

One more day in the month of July and then we’re sliding right into the last real month of summer. This week, everyone in the PNW will be preparing for a real heat wave expected to hit us mid-week, so I guess many will be sliding into the new month on their own sweat. Temps nearing or over 100 degrees…not optimal for many who don’t have access to A/C because these high temps just aren’t normal around here. If this continues, our summer weather will be holding out until September and beyond. Some will love it, others won’t but Mother Nature doesn’t tend to care what we think.  J

How has your summer been so far? Mine has been a mixed bag, really it has, but I guess that’s what’ll keep the summer interesting.

Piper

If you’ve kept up with my posts, you know I’ve had some difficult moments with Piper during the months of May and June. I wish I could say we were all through it, but unfortunately, she has been struck yet again with another infection and she’s back on antibiotics as of last week.  We’ve been in and out of the vet a dozen times over the past two months…I’m sure if she could speak she’d say she hopes this time will be the last. Even with everything she’s gone through, she’s been such a good girl through all this; it’s probably obvious, but I really can’t say enough about how special she is to me.

Home from Hawaii!

June also marked my oldest son’s return home from Hawaii – funny enough, on one of the days when I had to take an unexpected trip back to the vet because Piper had pulled out her drain tube after surgery, I returned home from the vet to find a bunch of luggage in the front hallway. Nothing can eliminate the anxious feelings of a parent better than the knowledge that their kid is finally home safe and sound after a long trip.

Steps while in Orlando!

June was also busy with preparations for a family vacation to Florida where we visited all the theme parks at Disney World over a four-day period, as well as Universal Studios for two days.  

Just a sneak peek...

While my absolute favorite place to “be” was Diagon Alley at Universal Studios, my favorite ride by far was at Disney World, in the newest addition of Animal Kingdom. Avatar’s Flight of Passage is nothing like any ride I’ve ever experienced since we first began going on theme park vacations more than ten years ago. I really can’t put into words how absolutely amazing the Flight of Passage is, but if you ever get the chance to experience it, do it. You won’t be disappointed.

Very alert & just about ready to fly

 

Let’s see…what else? 

Oh yes, birds. 

This summer has been quite the experience with birds. Not just the normal characters who visit every summer, although I would like to see more owls than I have so far. No, this summer we’ve been treated to quite a few baby birds. The first family was a nest of robins in a shrub in our front yard – one we had planned to cut way down because of how large it had gotten. But once we realized there was a nest of babies, we had to put that plan on hold. When the babies finally left the nest, the plan to cut down the shrubs was halted yet again when we discovered a new nest with more baby robins in the other shrub. 

Cheez-it B&B for birds

And baby robins weren’t our only guests this summer; we also had some swallows who decided our porch would be a good place to start a family. Their home was probably like no other, but it worked for them and all six babies thrived in this odd-looking nesting box. It was seriously fun to watch them grow as they received food from their parents, and then watch as they learned to flutter and fly and finally move on. We don’t have cats right now, or this situation would have made me very nervous!

The month of July has been busy with family events just about every weekend – to include a wedding reception, an outing to the zoo with my two great nephews, hanging out at the annual Oregon Trail Days and a family reunion at our house just yesterday. 

I think I’m ready for some free weekends during the month of August, if I get my way…I have a book to complete! 

I hope your summer so far is a fun one to write home about – carry on and stay cool!

Christmas in July, and other distractions

The weather we’ve been enjoying in the Pacific Northwest has made this an enjoyable summer, so far. Other than the 97 degree heat I was treated to my first day back from Florida last month, our weather here has been pretty outstanding. The burn bans are starting and soon there will be talk about the lack of rain, but we’ll be subject to wet weather soon enough. I’m in no hurry to see it just yet.

We’re hosting a family get-together the end of this month and about the end of June and beginning of July, I figured I better stock up on some items I thought might be good to have on hand for some summer kid-friendly fun. I also needed a new umbrella for one I had accidentally broken. When I went shopping, I was shocked to see that the summer items were either completely gone, or were down to a limited quantity tucked away in a clearance corner. In place of where they had been were school supplies.  Kids hadn’t even been out of school a month yet! I visited a couple of different stores looking for items on my list and also discovered the appearance of fall and Thanksgiving items. Good grief. By the time parents finally decide they should shop for school items (those who don’t know better), they’ll probably be shocked to find Christmas items instead.

I eventually found an umbrella, which I discovered was broken when I got it home. Ugh. I had to take it back, only to learn that the color I had chosen was no longer available. I was left with the choice of a bright lime green, light brown and dark brown. I settled with the light brown and called it good - and it had been marked down even lower since I purchased it so that I also received some cash back in return. J Finding the other summer items I was looking for was a challenge, but I finally crossed off all but one item from my list.

I’ve also noticed that there have been quite a few Christmas movies on t.v. lately. I happened to notice them one day when I was scrolling through the guide to see what was on. Eventually, when I saw more Christmas movies on the guide another day, I realized they have been playing more often than not this month on some channels. I guess people really do enjoy watching movies with a Christmas theme in July. 

We’re technically only, what, a month into summer? I don’t want to think about the holidays yet, or the change in the weather we’ll be heading towards, or the thought of having to wear coats or sweaters to keep warm, or worrying about driving to work in the snow. 

Do you ever frequent the magazine racks at the bookstore?  Do you notice a new trend that has been receiving wider audiences?  It’s the art and practice of mindfulness. However, in order to achieve that required mental state, part of it includes focusing on the present moment. That’s a difficult task when stores constantly pull us from the moment by thoughts of what’s to happen months and months away from today. For some it may be easy to ignore that pull, but for others, like those with children still in school, they are forced to focus on that future moment or risk missing out on the items they’ll need and which won’t be available when they finally go out in search of them. Unfortunately, the offering of seasonable items a season or two in advance is a tactic the stores will likely never change since it appears to be a competition of who can get their items on display first.

So I bought my umbrella and other items I needed for the gathering, I ignored the school supplies, and I quickly perused the fall and Thanksgiving items, before shaking my head and telling myself I did not need anything from those shelves at that moment.

Then I drove home, took off my shoes, and walked barefoot in the yard out to my gardens to check on my veggies and herbs while listening to the sound of the birds around me. The sun is warm and inviting, the smell of the herbs is invigorating, and beyond the birds and a slight breeze, the quiet of the woods around me is relaxing. Grounding myself in this way reminds me to keep focusing on the present, to enjoy these moments, for soon enough the clouds will constantly cover us, the gardens will be gone and going barefoot will not be an option if I want to keep warm.

I’ll enjoy fall and the upcoming holidays when it’s their time, but for now, I’m going to thoroughly enjoy these beautiful summer days. I hope you do too!

 

  

Bi-yearly check in…already?

What travels faster than the speed of light?  I’m beginning to think just your average year! A bit of an exaggeration, I’ll admit, but still…we’re already moving on into the last six months of the year – how did the first six months treat you?

My last check in was the end of April, and it feels like a lot has happened in just the two months since that time. I’m still doing what I can to continue to improve on my monthly intentions, so that I can continue to have good progress on my tasks and expectations, both personally and professionally. As I review my original list of mindful intentions for 2017, here’s how I’m doing now in that regard:

Reading and writing - I am still reading almost daily, both fiction and non-fiction. Whether I can sink into a good mystery or thriller, or read a new book on writing or inspiration, I’m always on the lookout for new options to add to my reading list. I’ve discovered, however, that lately when I read fiction I’m having a difficult time wearing just my “reader” hat…because my “author” hat likes to stay put sometimes. I tend to read stories more critically, or I compare them to how I like to write, or I see a mistake or misspelling and realize even the work of well-known authors aren’t perfect. But regardless of which hat I’m wearing, being a reader is in my DNA and will always be a constant in my life.

And, when it comes to my own writing, the fourth book in my series was sent off to the editor for review this past week. It’s such a huge relief for me to finally be at this point! I took so much time off after losing my dad, and then soon after with the illnesses and later the loss of my step-mom and my mother-in-law back-to-back, it was just really difficult to keep my head where it needed to be in order to keep up with my writing or stay on a regular schedule. Everyone deals with grief in their own way; I just had to figure out how to deal with mine, rather than what was expected or what I thought others expected from me, and I've had to push through my fears. It doesn’t have to be a lonely journey, but you do tend to travel that road alone. What works for you might not work for another, and sometimes it takes awhile to figure that out.

Growth, gratitude, focus, letting go - following up on the above, I have dealt with some serious blows but I have also grown through them, learned from them, and I have accepted the process of letting go of what I cannot change and of what might hinder me. I’m grateful, not for the bad parts, but for what I’ve learned from these past few years. It hasn’t broken me, but has made me stronger and has helped me focus on what matters most and for that, I am grateful.

Be mindful, be present, balance, strength – part of my new mindset involves being mindful, so that I can continue to find calm in the chaos, let go of hindrances, be present in each moment and find a better balance in life. I’m also constantly focused on how I can better myself with building strength and being more active. Yoga, meditation and journaling are just a few activities that help me in all those areas. 

Less clutter – I moved on from the house, after cleaning out quite a few closets and drawers, and we finally tackled the garage. It was a chore, but it felt good to go through everything, store items in bins or throw them away if necessary, and it felt especially good when we were able to haul off two truckloads of large items that had been taking up way too much space. There’s still a little more work to do, but it’s a manageable task compared to what we started with.

Travel, adventure, family – May and June were busy months when it came to travel and family. My oldest son, who has been living in Hawaii for the past year, came back home. Some might think it was because Hawaii was too expensive, but that wasn’t the case for him. He actually did very well and enjoyed living as an islander. But he decided it was time to come home and as a mom, you can imagine I’m thrilled to have him living nearby where I can visit with him more often, not to mention enjoy the holidays together. Only a week after he came home, we left as a family for a vacation to Florida. In June, no less, where the heat and humidity likely match, or was a bit worse, than where my son had been living in Hawaii. We’d sweat buckets during the day before the rain clouds came in the afternoon to soak us and lower the temps a bit but other than that, we had a great time and an unforgettable adventure.

Be brave, dream, create – these may be the hardest or the most fun, depending on the day or the mood, but these are also intentions I never wish to forget or discover buried under all the daily, common or necessary tasks. I am brave, I can’t help but dream and I love to create. Those traits are what make me, me, and they are intentions that will always make me feel complete when I stick to them. 

So that’s my bi-yearly check in. With half the year under my belt, and a better mindset and positive attitude as I move along, I am ready to take on the next six months! 

Until next time…take care and read on, or write on, if you’re also a writer.  J