For the month of November, I’m going to continue with my habit of posting things I am thankful for. Thankfulness is different from happiness, and I don’t want to conflate the two.
I’m thankful for the ever-changing weather. It’s cold and dry again today, but we are having wonderful sunrises and sunsets. Gorgeous!
I’m thankful for the ever-changing weather. We had a basically dry day yesterday with temperatures in the high 50s after a week of cold rain. Today the temperatures are back where they are supposed to be (mid 40s), and we’re expecting the rain to resume.
Today I’m happy for GREAT medical care available here. I’m thankful Al is being taken care of beautifully.
For the month of November, I’m going to try to include gratitude in all my posts (and post every day.)
Today I’m thankful for Blue Apron, who plans several meals a week for me, visits the grocery store, and ships all the ingredients in a nice box. I’ve been using this for over a year now, and I’m really impressed with the variety and the fresh ingredients. At my age, thinking up “What’s for dinner” has lost its charm. Big Al is not too impressed with the kale, but at least I can control the amount of salt we eat.
P.S. If anyone wants to try three free meals from them, leave a comment here, or send me an email, and I’ll send your name in.
(Many thanks to MaryAnn McKibben Dana for her great workbook that gave me an opportunity to review 2016 and to begin to set intentions for 2017. You can get yours here.)
In any case, here is my year-end post for 2016.
REVIEW
Major Highlights
This life-long Presbyterian got to attend General Assembly for the first time. I didn’t go as a commissioner, but I did go as a volunteer and got to meet many of my on-line friends in person for the first time. I also got to renew friendships with folks I met years ago. The open atmosphere, and loving acceptance of racial, sexual, and gender differences was healing to my jaundiced heart.
Co-Moderators of the General Assembly Jan Edmiston and Denise Anderson
Stated Clerk of the Presbyterian Church (USA)
Also, this fall I was elected Vice-Moderator of Olympia Presbytery and installed in the November meeting to take office January 1, 2017
Major Lowlights
There were two deaths in my generation in my family and two deaths of women who were good friends of mine here at Franke Tobey Jones. There are big holes in my heart and in my life with these folks gone.
The outcome of the election was also a major lowlight. However, from that came a resolve for me to be kinder, and to resist all forms of persecution. I finally decided that I was tired of being “tolerant” of those people who spew hate. I am resolved to call out bigotry wherever I find it. That’s what my safety-pin says to the world.
Physical Health
I kept off part of the weight I lost in 2014. Two trips in the spring, and three trips in the fall found 15 additional pounds on me (I have no control over what is served to me on Amtrak and I have no willpower when everybody else is having desert). It’s also almost impossible to exercise when you’re traveling. I’m still able to completely control my diabetes with exercise and diet, and I no longer have to take statins for high cholesterol. I try to exercise regularly by walking, and sessions on the NuStep (although I need to put strength workouts back into my routine). Tai Chi has fallen by the wayside.
Mental Health
My faith in God remains strong, and I’m in a very supportive, loving, affirming church environment. I can’t begin to say how much those people mean to me.
I attend Bible Study at the church almost every week, and it has deepened my understanding and faith.
The affirmation of being elected to the office of Vice-Moderator of Presbytery was a major boost to my ego and mental health.
Social
I have burrowed further into the community where I live. I walk weekly with a group from the church (and then we drink coffee afterwards), so friendships are deepening there. We also have an informal group from Franke Tobey Jones who meet for Happy Hour once a week. During the warm weather we met at the Gazebo next to our house, but when it’s too cold to sit outside comfortably in the evenings, we meet in my living room.
Sadly, we lost more of our friends here this year. Two of my best friends (part of the Gazebo Group) died suddenly, but not unexpectedly. We have been able to welcome a couple of newcomers into our circle. It’s all part of the rhythm of life – folks leave and new people arrive.
My cousin, who is just a year older than I am, lost her husband suddenly this spring, and my brother-in-law died suddenly right before Thanksgiving. When death comes to my generation, it reminds me once again of the impermanence of life.
The good thing about funerals is that the family gets together. Here are all three of my siblings. We haven’t all been together since my son’s wedding in 2013.
Gardening
I had a vegetable garden again this year,
and I grew green beans, tomatoes, squash, and peppers. I also had an artichoke plant that made up for lost time this year. I got 25 artichokes of off the one plant. I had such a bumper crop of squash and tomatoes that I was able to donate over 100 lbs of food to the food bank. Al and I ate all the tomatoes, squash, and green beans we wanted.
Political Commentary
I have not been able to write anything about my reaction to the election. I was struck dumb for almost a month over the fact that hatred, misogyny, racism, jingoism, sexism, paternalism and hetero-normity won out. I have decided I will do what I can to resist this scourge of evil. I remind myself that rarely is a society changed from the top down, rather big change comes slowly and through small people doing kind things. Eventually, the selfishness will founder in the face of goodness. I’m checking my news sources and trying, in my small part, to keep to the truth, and to believe that goodness will prevail.
RELEASE
I’m bidding a farewell to 2016. It was a rough year in some respects. Unfortunately many of the good things were overshadowed by death, and loss. The major thing I’m taking with me into 2017 is a new confidence in myself and a new resolve to not let hatred win.
Happy New Year to all of you, gentle readers. Tomorrow I’ll bring you my “intentions”!
Here were my intentions at the beginning of the year. Let me review how I’ve done, so far. (I know, I know, I get later and later. This is for May, really.)
RESOLVE (or better yet – INTENTIONS)
May was a disaster for my diet. Two weeks spent eating out with family and eating on the train spelled a gain of about 5 pounds. I tried to get it off once I got home, but not much luck.The farmer’s market is open, and I’m visiting it every week.
I INTENDED to keep on losing in June. We’ll see how that went.
(I ought to just leave this paragraph out, because I never get around to it, but I’ll keep the intention.) I still haven’t done any strength training yet this year, but again, I INTEND to.
I did really well, considering that I spent six days in a train and four days in a car. I did walk a little every time we stopped, and was able to still average 8000 steps a day.
My garden is coming along nicely.
The artichokes and the cilantro really got away from me while we were gone.
We managed this nicely traveling on the Empire Builder to Chicago.
We had dinner with Ray and Kathy, and then rented a car to drive to Birmingham.
We stopped to visit my cousin just west of Nashville, and got to meet her grandson.
Then we had several days to tour around in Birmingham, including a “walking tour” of downtown where we saw lots of markers to the Freedom Trail.
On the way back to Homewood, we went across Red Mountain and stopped to look at Vulcan.
On Sunday we rode up to Lookout Mountain, and I got to “See Rock City” and “See Ruby Falls”! Spectacular!
We got Ian graduated from High School, and drove back to Chicago and then rode the Builder back to Seattle.
I’m looking forward to the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (USA) in Portland in June. What a gift that it will be held on the West Coast. It probably won’t be out here again in my lifetime.
Here were my intentions at the beginning of the year. Let me review how I’ve done, so far. (I know, I know, I get later and later. This is for April not May or March.)
RESOLVE (or better yet – INTENTIONS)
I had a decent month with my diet in April, but I had a bit of a set-back when I fell on one knee a couple of weeks ago. I wasn’t able to walk or ride the cross-trainer for about a week, and I managed to gain a couple of pounds. But I got rid of them the last week of April, so that’s good.
The farmer’s market is open, and, although it’s a little early for anything except asparagus, the lure of fresh vegetables is strong.
I INTEND to keep on losing (even a little bit) this month, although it will be hard since we’re traveling the last two weeks of May and I won’t really be in control of the food. I will do my best to eat right even though we’re eating in restaurants and on the train.
I’m still avoiding wine, except for the occasional glass when I’m eating out with a group, or at a party.
I still haven’t done any strength training yet this year, but again, I INTEND to. (Yeah, yeah, yeah. One of these months you are going to see this post and find out I’m lifting weights and doing lots of core exercises. Just not last month.)
Except for the week I had to take off to baby my knee, I did pretty well. Even so, I managed to get 200 miles in April (but barely.) I’m afraid I may be short of mileage in May because of time spent on the train and in a car, but I’ll try to get some exercise at stops.
I walked down the hill to the Ruston Way Water Walk a couple of times. A vendor has added a velocipede rental service and folks seem to be enjoying their rides.
I also walked down the other side of the hill to Owen Beach. The kayakers were out in force.
My garden is coming along nicely.
I think I showed you a picture of the artichoke plant earlier. It’s having artichokes!
We’re leaving shortly on the Empire Builder to Chicago. Then we’ll rent a car, and visit my cousin just west of Nashville, and get to Birmingham in time for Kate’s graduation from 8th grade. Then we have several days to tour around (possibly go to Shelbyville, TN to check on genealogy stuff or to Atlanta or Tallahassee to visit friends.) Then Ian will graduate from High School, and we’ll drive back to Chicago to see Ray and Co., and then ride the Builder back to Seattle.
I’m looking forward to the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (USA) in Portland in June. What a gift that it will be held on the West Coast. It probably won’t be out here again in my lifetime.
That’s where I am and what I’ve been doing for the past month. I hope I keep up with you better in May, but don’t count on it.
Here were my intentions at the beginning of the year. Let me review how I’ve done, so far. (I know, I know, it’s the 4th of April already, but this is for March.)
RESOLVE (or better yet – INTENTIONS)
I stuck pretty closely to my diet in March, but still no movement on the scale. I’m really discouraged, but I’ll keep on with it. I really have no other choice. Even if I’m not losing anything, I’m definitely not gaining, so that ain’t nothing.
I INTEND to keep on eating decently in April.
I’m still avoiding wine, except for the occasional glass when I’m eating out with a group, or at a party.
I still haven’t done any strength training yet this year, but again, I INTEND to. (Yeah, yeah, yeah. One of these months you are going to see this post and find out I’m lifting weights and doing lots of core exercises. Just not last month.)
My FitBit keeps me on the straight and narrow. I managed to log over 280 miles in March (about half of it outside) because the weather is finally improving.
I got my onions planted in my garden, and I’m doing a decent job of keeping the weeds at bay. I put in another row of onion sets that should be ready about a month after the first ones. I planted seeds for two kinds of squash (yellow zucchini and yellow crooked-neck). Only about a month before I can put in tomatoes, and peppers. I’m going to start some green beans seed in the greenhouse sometime this week. My artichoke plant seems to have survived the winter very well.
I will volunteer at the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (USA) in Portland in June. I will go down for the whole week. I’ve got the hotel all booked, and I’m ready to go. What a gift that it will be held on the West Coast. It probably won’t be out here again in my lifetime.
That’s where I am and what I’ve been doing for the past month. I hope I keep up with you better in April.
Here were my intentions at the beginning of the year. Let me review how I’ve done, so far. (I know, I know, it’s the 5th of March already, but this is for February.)
RESOLVE (or better yet – INTENTIONS)
I did much better with my diet in February. I had one major splurge when we went to Portland for Valentine’s Day and I ate my weight in goodies at Fogo de Chao.
I INTEND to keep on eating decently in March.
I did manage to give up wine, except for the occasional glass when I’m eating out with a group, or at a party.
I still haven’t done any strength training yet this year, but again, I INTEND to.
Still not much movement on the weight front, but I am holding steady, even with the occasional splurge.
As far as exercise goes, my FitBit was again the saving of me. I managed to log over 220 miles in February (most of it on the NuStep) because the rain kept coming.
I got my onions planted in my garden, and I’m doing a decent job of keeping the weeds at bay. Only about six weeks before I can put in tomatoes, squash, green beans and peppers.
I also have another trip planned to Portland in the middle of June for the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (USA). I will be volunteering and will go down for the whole week. What a gift that it will be held on the West Coast. It probably won’t be out here again in my lifetime.
I’ve done a decent job keeping up with Headspace. I finished up the pack on Relationships, and I’m almost finished with the set on Creativity. I will start Happiness in March.
I haven’t been as regular with Tai Chi, unfortunately. I still make it to class at least once a week, but my church meetings seem to fall on Thursdays and that’s when one of my classes is. I am trying to schedule around it, though.
That’s where I am and what I’ve been doing for the past month. I hope I keep up with you better in March.
Here were my intentions at the beginning of the year. Let me review how I’ve done, so far.
RESOLVE (or better yet – INTENTIONS)
My diet this month has been a DISASTER. It started with snacks, etc., during the football games, followed closely by Big Al’s birthday (and his request for a Birthday Cake that I bought and then ate too much of).
Then, my wonderful daughter-in-law made a King Cake that I shared with the Monday evening social group, but lots was left over, and I felt like I had to devour it.
Finally, to top it all off, yesterday was our Annual Congregational Meeting and Potluck at church. I don’t know about anyone else, but I have NO WILLPOWER when I’m confronted with a potluck.
So I INTEND to crawl back on my lo-cal, lo-carb diet starting today. (I hope February will be better – as long as nobody invites me to a Mardi Gras Pancake dinner.)
I haven’t done any strength training yet this year, but again, I INTEND to. I HAVE added a weekly stretching class to my routine, so that’s something. It’s a shame that I don’t take advantage of the equipment that’s here at Franke Tobey Jones and available for me to use for free (or at least it’s included in my rent).
It’s January, so all I can do is lust over the pictures from last year, and dream of the day the soil will be warm enough to put in some tomatoes and squash and green beans.
I’ve also picked up Barbara Kingsolver’s Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, again, and I’m drooling over the thought that the Farmer’s Market may open in March, or for sure by April.
No travel is planned at this time, except vaguely to enjoy our trip to see the grandchildren in May. We are traveling more around Western Washington, though (no new places, unfortunately) because of some of my responsibilities with Presbytery. We almost got to Pacific Beach after a Presbytery meeting, but we both had commitments for the next day, so we nixed that at the last minute.
I’ve done a decent job keeping up with Headspace. In fact, if you are a regular reader of this blog you know that I spent all of January on The Search for Mindfulness. I hope you enjoyed some of my posts and pictures, and, maybe, were inspired to give meditation a try.
I haven’t been as regular with Tai Chi, unfortunately. I still make it to class at least once a week, but my church meetings seem to fall on Thursdays and that’s when one of my classes is. I am trying to schedule around it, though.
That’s where I am and what I’ve been doing for the past month. I hope I keep up with you better in February.
An Aging Liberal Hippy from the Left Coast 