Bear and I were outside this evening, making the rounds on our last daylight outing when I noticed an intense red glow to the West… a blazing sunset just visible through the trees.
I dashed inside, grabbed camera and keys, whistled Bear to load up and down the road we went to see what we could see.
It was worth the trip.
Glorious!
And to the East a bit of cloud and mountain top alpenglow: sunset on the road home.
I am so happy that it is September! NOAA says that September 1 is the “meteorological first day of Fall”. This is different than the astronomical start of Fall on the Autumnal Equinox. Wow – first, I ever heard of this. But, I’ll take it! It is Fall.
My exercise plan went off the rails when I hurt my shin on July 6. It has been 8 weeks and high time to get back to more moving about. Neighbor Mel asked if I wanted to walk with her mornings. We have a walking plan. It started Monday, except she had to cancel and I have to cancel tomorrow, but we DID walk today! The idea is that we keep each other on track. I hope we do better as we go along. Sheesh :)!
This morning was beautiful. I walked to her house as she was getting her boys ready for the school bus. I got to see them aboard and then off we went.
The moon was still high in the morning sky … a morning sky that had blue sky and beautiful clouds and crisp, clear air.
Perfect morning walk, this first day of Fall!
Saturday evening, it felt like the smoke had lifted a bit and although we did not get the rain and wind at my house, it cooled.
Sunday started cloudy, but without smoke AND about 10 minutes of gentle rain.
Off and on it was sunny and breezy, then dark and blustery.
We took advantage of sunny and breezy moments…
Look! – some blue sky!!
During the dark and blustery times, we were inside and I cooked chicken, taco meat, turkey meatballs and various veg for this week’s meals.
Except for tomorrow which is forecast to hit 76F, the week’s highs are in the 60’s.
I really think we are turning the corner to Fall.
Another VERY smoky day, but it is Friday!
A good work week.
A good week with Bear and Auggie…
…Auggie has been coming in 2:00 p.m ish and I’ve been keeping him in. He has mostly not protested. Mornings are less smoky, but by afternoon – YIKES. And today, as I’m writing this at 5:00, it looks like dusk. I’m happy that we are all inside.
Lunchtime: a brief outing with Mr. Bear. He didn’t want to stay out very long which was fine by me.
Friday night pizza prep: dough and my home brew ginger ale… I’m off wine until I have a bit more normal blood pressure history. Not a problem as I have some excellent ginger and the current batch of ginger syrup is VERY good.
A good week.
Hopefully, tomorrow’s cold front will improve things without making the fire situation worse. A front is to whoosh through tomorrow afternoon-evening. Behind the front are cooler temperatures and hopefully some rain. It is the whoosh that is the concern for fires. There was a local town evacuated – in case. Some new firefighting crews have arrived. Hopefully in 48 hours things will have calmed and cooled.
Meanwhile, T.G.I.F. at my house.
It is Thursday evening as I write this. It has been a good week. I haven’t had to take any medication other than the 1 teeny pill given to me in the E.R. on Sunday afternoon. And my blood pressure has stayed in the normal range.
I took Monday morning “off” – a bit of time to regroup, do a few house chores that didn’t get done over the weekend: kind of mindless chores but things got put to rights. It was a decision made knowing that just kind of puttering is relaxing to me as well as getting those things done makes for a “clean slate” to start working. I think it worked.
Despite a short Monday, I’ve accomplished quite a lot this week work-wise. Additionally, I’ve spent good time with Bear and Auggie, fixed myself nice meals and slept well.
It is VERY smoky and despite the smoke reached to 89F yesterday and today, but that stuff: small potatoes! The weekend events turned my head back to focusing on the good stuff. And “this too, shall pass!” – that is my motto re the weather, etc. I have no control so it is silly to spend time agonizing about it.
Today, I read Heather Lende’s Four Good Things Post. I highly recommend clicking over and reading the entire post. She concludes with “I don’t know exactly what prayer is, but paying attention with gratitude is a good start.”
Paying attention with gratitude. I interpret that as staying in the moment and being thankful … whatever the circumstances. I had a great lesson this past weekend in how a seemingly challenging event could be something that had more good than bad. Not that I want a repeat, but I came away from the experience a changed person with new knowledge: about the E.R., about care professionals, about blood pressure and the heart and the body and the mind, about what I really want to focus on … I’m still thinking on the experience.
I hope that I am paying attention with gratitude: counting my blessings … which are many!
Happy Thursday, almost Friday!
