From Don’s camera this morning – one red leaf remaining on the burning bush.
And another sigh. Lots of sighs lately.
This seasonal transition is a hard one for me, as you know. I’m also one week away from a big birthday and that is weighing on me, as well. Time seems to go by so quickly these days. Thank goodness for a husband who understands and makes me laugh. And for puzzles that keep my mind occupied in a meditative way. And for books, always.
It’s now very cold here and will be even colder tomorrow. The porch plants made it through the night, but I doubt they will make it through tonight.
I think I need to reread some of Mary Oliver’s wintery poems. Her eye for detail and her observations always keep me grounded.
Sorry! This isn’t a very good photo because the light was funky. There are words under different headings like ‘propagation’ and ‘soil.’ But you can’t make them out. I’d retake it, but I was about to deliver lots of finished puzzles to my friend Heidi, so I took it apart rather hurriedly. Heidi works for a non-profit north of us that is a food pantry, thrift store, and community cafe. They feed, clothe, and respond to the needs of our county and they’ve been around for 50 years. I donate the puzzles so that those in need can buy them at a highly discounted price. Heck, they might even be free in some cases.
I read a nice big chunk of The Shadow Murders yesterday and I plan to do the same today. I love Adler-Olsen’s writing. And just a little over two weeks from now, Louise Penny’s newest will be released. Can’t wait!
Spoiler Alert opens on December 2nd. Jim, Ben, and Michael Ausiello (the author of the book – Jim plays him in the movie) are attending a screening in San Francisco tonight. They’ll have a discussion with the audience afterwards. And there’s another screening coming up in NYC. Don and I want to go to a movie theater to see it – something we rarely do these days. I think Don is even more excited about it than me.
Stay safe.
Happy Monday.
Feeling a little blue today. The weather is dreary and cold. So many Dr appts this week for my mom and just chores chores chores. I need to bury my face in a book and run away for few hours. I can’t wait to see the movie when it comes out.
I hope you get to escape via a book, Linda.
Stay safe.
I always think of the O. Henry story about the last leaf when I see a last leaf on a tree.
Take Care,
Kaye
Thanks for reminding me of that, Kaye.
Stay safe.
We really miss going to the movies but with the virus and our age, it is just not a good idea for us.
I am sure someone will enjoy the puzzles
Oh, we’ll be masked, so it won’t be an issue.
Stay safe, Linda
Great puzzle….and so nice of you to donate them all. Enjoy your day! ;)
Thanks, Donnamae.
Stay safe.
Guess bday will be much younger than I…your husband will make it special…we laugh here…son had his fifty 2020 and Covid was rampant…daughter had her 50 while here this year and Covid…my big one in September week of hurricane and her flight cancelled…we have always been used to celebrating before and or after…distance…my 70 was celebrated in wV low key…the next day flew to Florida for big celebration with family here…then to Indy for one there…in February, some of us flew to NYC and did my 70 right…lol. Now I just whisper…thank you God for another year…love the puzzle. And oh my the leaf…make a wish…
Thanks, Brenda.
Stay safe.
most trees and bushes are bare here, too … very sad-looking. love “burning bushes” and trees, though. thanks, claudia and don, for another beautiful photo.
nice of you to donate the puzzles. and heidi and her agency to help people in need. fifty years is a long time!
glad you have more books and puzzles.
and the movie will soon be out … so happy for you!!!
hope everyone has a nice, easy day. stay safe.
kathy
Thanks, Kathy.
Stay safe.
I turned the big 70 yesterday. I thought I would feel differently today. But I feel the same. My husband‘s goal was to make it to 65. And he made it to 66. My goal was to make it to 70 and I did. My brother passed away this summer. He was 71. So I have this to say. Never regret growing older as it is a privilege denied to many.
Sandy I am so sorry about your husband. I am older than you but I try to look at each day as a gift even with all my aches and pains. I pray God gives you a hug today.
Thank you. I was feeling a little sorry for myself as my daughter and grandson have Covid and I spent the day alone.
I’m sorry you lost your husband, Sandy. My brother passed away when he was 44, so I am very familiar with loss.
I don’t regret growing older – never said that. I’m just overwhelmed sometime by the passing of time.
Stay safe and Happy Birthday!!
I ask my family…where did the years go?
Exactly! Same here.
xo
I lost my sister from multiple sclerosis at age 50. She suffered so much. I used to be the middle child and now I am the oldest. My brother was my best friend. We were 16 months apart. Every morning I put my feet on the floor and say I am grateful to be alive.
I have always said that I never wanted to be the oldest child. But that role was thrust upon me when David passed away. Bittersweet, isn’t it?
xo
sorry for those losses, sandy … so sorry! may you have peace through God’s presence and promises of eternal life. i will be praying for you.
hope you had a nice birthday yesterday, that you celebrated you and were well-celebrated. had cake, too! and that the year ahead will be a good one for you.
sending a hug (if okay),
kathy (not far behind you at 64 and a half)
Thank you!
Happy Happy 70th Birthday Sandy! and Happy New Year as your birthday really is the 1st day of your New Year, Celebrate the whole Year!! I am sorry for the loss of your husband , that one is very hard. God bless and stay warm Melody A
That’s a tenacious leaf!
That’s nice to donate the puzzles…
That’ll be fun to see the movie on a big screen!
Stay warm!
Thanks so much, Barrie.
Stay safe.
Our weather here is why we live in Arizona. It is our reward for going through a LONG hot summer! It is another beautiful day here. Sun shining and temps in the 70’s. I have a bunch of plants waiting to be planted, but we had our wonderful grandson Greyson over for the weekend. He is turning 8 this week so we started a little celebration for him. I don’t know if I should share this, but I feel safe here thanks to Claudia. I have battled depression and fibromyalgia for years. Have tried many medications with not much relief.
My doctor suggested ketamine therapy because they have been getting great results. Well, I started last week. I will have 4 sessions. I am excited to see if I get the great results that other people have had. I will keep my fingers crossed. I too like the saying where we should celebrate our birthdays because they are denied to many. How true that is. Take care.
I so hope this new therapy works for you, Deb! Wishing you all the best.
I always celebrate my birthday, don’t worry. But to say anything but this particular birthday is a bit tough for me would be dishonest. As I said in another reply, my brother died when he was 44, so I am well aware that he never reached my age.
Stay safe.
Oh Claudia, I hope you don’t think I directed that comment towards you.
I too have lost family members very young, lost my mother when I was 25 and she was only 52. I have to say, as I am approaching 70 in a couple years, it will sting a little it too! Time is just going too fast!
Yes, you’re right. And no, don’t worry. I just think that big things are too big for a Hallmark card, if you know what I mean.
Your mom died too young, Deb. I’m sorry.
xo
Don’s photo reminds me of the book, “The Fall of Freddie the Leaf: A Story of Life for All Ages” by Leo Buscaglia.
I remember that book! And Leo Buscaglia.
Thanks for the reminder, Denise.
Stay safe.
sorry for you having those troubles, deb. i hope that new therapy will help you.
thank you for sharing (i agree … this is a safe place, thanks to claudia and everyone else here).
i have fought depression off and on over the years. taking an anti-depressant now and think it’s helping a bit (but might need to be switched for causing a sleep problem … ugh). also keeping up with other self-care, but the exercise part is hard … my back broke in four places (two years ago this month, due to osteoporosis) and while the pain is gone, there are only a couple exercises that are physically safe for me to do anymore … walking, tai chi and swimming … so no more running (which brought me not only relief from depression, but also joy) or zumba. hard, but i don’t quit this fight!
i will keep praying for you.
sending a hug (if okay) and love,
kathy
Thank you Kathy. That means a lot to me. I’ll take that hug!
What a lovely thing to do with the puzzles you have enjoyed. In a small Ontario town there is a used book store that accepts puzzle donations. There is a table set up with a puzzle and clients are encourged to help add a few pieces on their visit. Once the puzzle is completed and no pieces are found missing, it is broken and donated to a charity shop. Customers have now come to expect a puzzle.
It will be fun for you and Don to see your movie. Take gentle care and atay cozy. Hugs, Elaine
Thanks so much, Elaine.
Stay safe.
I love this puzzle idea at the bookstore! How lovely :)
Oh, those birthdays with a zero! People say, it’s just a number–so I decided on a number that I liked better, lol.
I saved a porch pot of impatiens to bring inside since it was still blooming and left the others to fend for themselves. Somehow, they don’t look very good after nights in the teens.
Your puzzle makes me glad I have very few houseplants anymore. We’ve never had a dog that showed any interest in them before, but this pup is making up for that and keeping them “pruned”. They aren’t any good for her, but she showed no ill effects and I moved them out of her reach. I’m pretty sure I can predict the chaos of wrapped presents and a Christmas tree, so mitigating measures are already flitting through my brain!
It’s a hard time of year for me as well. The swift onset of winter darkness seems to be goading me into an early installation of holiday lights this year. They make my heart happy.
I’m relieved to have the midterm suspense behind me here in Nevada. It’s sad that it was such a close race between a good Senator and a lazy, carpetbagging wannabe who traded on family name recognition. It shows that hard work in the precincts does pay off in the end!
I’m looking forward to Spoiler Alert! I could use a little entertainment. I can’t remember the last time I was in a theater. I wish I had a good book to curl up with right now. Perhaps a library card is in my future.
Yes to a library card, Roxie! Do it.
A puppy is the best source of joy. I’m sure that little dickens will keep you laughing as we navigate this seasonal change.
Stay safe.
That’s a wonderful puzzle, Claudia. And good books. Sounds like good hunkering down time. I haven’t been to a movie theatre in three years. I hope to go to something soon — but early, like the 10 or 11 a.m. show when no one is there!
Jeanie, my husband went to see that Tom Cruise film, Maverick, last May … so, wow, that’s already six months ago; as Claudia was saying in the post, time seems to pass too quickly! … and this was in L.A. County out here in Southern Calif; the movie theater’s seats were spaced for physical distancing and masks were required. They went on a weekday matinee. Don’t know if those kinds of protections are still in place, but one can hope!
That’s my hope. I always love the movies at this time of year and I do want to see Claudia’s especially!
Yes, we’d love to do an early viewing. I don’t want to hear people talking or chomping on food during this film particularly!
Stay safe, Jeanie.
Sorry to hear you lost a brother. I lost mine when he was 25. An idiot with a gun shot him. I heard he was trying to protect someone.
hej, jan.
i am sorry for the loss of your brother (a good man and hero for trying to protect someone). i will be praying for you and hope you know and are comforted by God’s presence and promises of eternal life.
sending a hug (if okay),
kathy
How heartbreaking, Jan. I’m so very sorry.
xoxo
It’s really nice that you donate the puzzles.
Very worried about one of my best friends today. Five times boosted for Covid, soon to be age 72; got exposed to the virus from visiting family members who’d arrived from another county about 125 miles away; had just thought she had a really-bad cold for four days. Then, the light bulb went off: Could this actually be Covid?
(Nobody was masked in the home or the car for the three days they’d all spent together. They went to the Ahmanson in L.A. to see a performance; went out to eat at more than one restaurant. Now, seven people in the family are sick; Covid spread like wildfire between them [some are sicker than others; all age groups, from age 18 to 73].)
My friend’s symptoms aren’t too-too scary; she’s on the phone frequently/daily with her doctor’s nurse about everything, but she’s in quarantine and very uncomfortable with cold/flu-like effects, slow to get better, and this has been going on in total now for eleven days.
They have no idea how many people they all exposed to Covid. I guess there’s no such thing as contact-tracing anymore.
Strange, these two-plus years later, when we’ve all had Covid so much ‘on the brain’, how not a one of them in this extended family, not even my friend (who’s an intelligent woman), suspected Covid was the culprit. In fact, my friend was too late in contacting her doctor to have the prescribed medication/antidote/’cure'(?) which must be taken at onset of Covid symptoms, so she’s just had to be toughing it out at home with OTC cold/flu meds although I think she’s gonna need a prescription-strength cough syrup before too long this week (I’m just glad she doesn’t have a hard time breathing; I’m sure, with me, it would be a problem due to my asthma).
I just think it’s such a shame, after more than two years into this ‘pandemic’ which a lot of people don’t believe is around us anymore, that my friend had to get Covid NOW, but in the absence of testing before getting together as a family (just trying to be ‘normal’!), not masking around each other, in close proximity and hugging/kissing in greeting, this is what happened/can happen. She admits they got a little too casual and had some kind of false security about the virus.
Nevertheless, I went to a small retail store yesterday to holiday-shop, something I haven’t done in conventional public/shopping hours since February of 2020 due to immune compromise, put on a fresh N95, just hoping I’d be okay in the half hour I was inside the store. They no longer had plexi-glass protection against the register; not one person (four of them) who worked in the store or who was visiting the store (five customers) was masked except myself. I went in early, just as they opened. It was a big step for me; I didn’t feel too great about it once I was in there, but I need to dip my toes in the water; I was in a big rush to get in/get out, but that’s kinda hard to do when you’re gift-shopping and aren’t familiar with the inventory. I pray I’ll be okay (hope the shopping trip was worth it!) and that everybody else will be, too; but, make no mistake, Covid hasn’t left us; clearly, I took a chance.
(But I’d had a long talk with my primary-care physician and she doesn’t think my degree of isolation is healthy for my wellbeing anymore, being in self-imposed shut-down/shut-away for as long as I have been since the U.S. onset of Covid in early 2020, although I was simply trying to follow her advice as well as the guidance of other medical specialists at the time. It’s a bit of a hard call, straddling the line, as my specific immune compromise is fairly significant; I’ve been lucky to be retired and was never out in the worst of Covid [2020-21], prior to vaccinations. My retired husband has been working a weekly part-time job for a year now and we’ve somehow managed to stay safe from the virus; have tried to be careful. Hope it can last.)
My age 70-something, currently-suffering friend has three co-morbidities for virus complications and is hoping she won’t now be a Covid long hauler; just not wanting to borrow/beg trouble and trying not to think about it, stay optimistic although feeling crappy, but she’s worried for herself. A few of us are trying to keep in daily touch with her because she’s single and lives alone. Glad she’s got a little dog to keep her company. But I woke up just now at the wee hour because I’m feeling uneasy for her, so I’ll call in a few hours, once the sun’s up. See if today she needs more cough medicine or whatever (the cough is not good and her voice is very thin), as I’d selfishly rather not go anywhere tomorrow/Weds because we’re supposed to have violent Santa Ana winds (hurricane-force in places; the meteorologists have been warning us for days). My husband and I have a lot of wind prep to do later today in advance of this wind event, like take down tarps that could get torn, remove the car covers, secure loose objects in the yard, anchor the City trash cans which will have just been emptied and can roll around/knock over; collapse the ‘canopy’ we have over the outdoor ‘feed’ station for the feral cats from the hillside; that sort of thing.
We know the drill and were expecting the winds long before now, but they’re late this year. We also have to expect that the power company can cut off the electricity at any time in order to reduce threat of wind-driven fire from sparking lines, so we’ll probably get out a cooler-chest out of storage, buy some ice, make sure all the flashlites have good batteries and just hunker down.
Sorry you’ve gone cold in the Northeast as we approach Thanksgiving, but I guess you have to anticipate that as much as we do out here in the coastal West with our winds. Sigh indeed, Claudia; I understand!
Well, we’re getting snow and rain and ice tonight, so there’s that. Sigh.
I’m so sorry your friend is dealing with COVID. I hope she recovers quickly, Vicki.
We still mask and will continue to mask. But we do go out and about simply because we have to – for work and necessities. Of course, I know you deal with morbidities and that limits you. But bravo to you for getting out there, Vicki. I know it’s frightening, but you did it!
Stay safe.
Thanks, Claudia. I was talking to another friend this afternoon and she was saying, with my husband in agreement, that we can’t expect miracles out of the vaccines/boosters, only that hopefully by having them, and if we do get Covid, the symptoms are lessened, maybe keeping us out of the hospital. But she and her husband have a male friend who’s age 72, again the five vax/boosters since earliest he could get the last one in September, got Covid anyway, in hospital three weeks and is now already considered a long hauler (can the doctors tell that so soon?), but I don’t know the details of where he’s been and what he was doing prior to getting stricken. I’m glad you’re a mask-wearer; it’s a simple thing we can do, as discussed here much before.
Yeah, wow, looking at you guys on the weather map tonight, nightly TV news; COLD! And our wind came earlier than expected; has been blowing hard all day; big whooshing and howling wind, calm now on Tues night at 8:30pm but is supposed to drum up again at 10pm so I’m sure we’re in for an overnight of spotty sleep. Oh well. I couldn’t avoid a tumbleweed blowing off the freeway when I was driving on an access road that parallels. Had to stop the car and try to pull the net-like/thread-y thing from the vehicle undercarriage. Somebody told me once that if you don’t untangle it, a tumbleweed can spark a car fire. I managed to dislodge it with some yanks. Also what happens in this wind is that the pretty fall/autumn leaves are now mostly on the ground and not the trees (darn!), the acorns are everywhere underfoot from the oak trees (crunch, crunch-pop underneath the car tires) and woody, sharp, spiky palm bark is laying around all over the place since we have so many palm trees in the area, so I felt like I had some land mines and was glad to get home under cover from flying debris!
xoxo
Hello Kathy in Iowa , I am in Iowa too LOL and 64 and 2/3 years now Take care and stay warm Melody A