The Easy Way

In a way, I'm grateful that this illness happened in August and that this August has been a slightly weird month. It wasn't overly hot, which meant that the air conditioner hasn't had to run all that much. It was dry, which meant, while I worked to get better and recover my strength, the lawn didn't need a weekly mowing. I'm not sure how I would have done that. But, it's been warm enough that I can do one thing which makes life a bit easier.

The warm temperatures combined with sunshine made making sure I had an abundance of clean pants reasonably easy. I would do a load of pants and then drape them over the deck railings. In about 3 hours, they were dry. The added advantage is the smell. They smell so fresh. I wouldn't be able to do this in the winter. Even with the winter sun, there needs to be warmth on the jeans to get them to dry. Freeze-dried jeans are still wet when they thaw.

Having this as an option when I can only do one load of wash a week has helped keep me from smelling like a barn. That's appreciated.

Beverage:  Water

Deb

Things I Saw - Part the Thirteenth

The cities of travel are often passed with no thought to what they are. Many, many, many years ago, I lived in Bloomington, Indiana, an hour's drive south of Indianapolis. Passing by Indy on my way east, I thought of how different it looked those decades ago. It was quite derelict back then. In the 1990's, the skyline was dominated by the RCA Dome, a white concave structure you saw on the left side of this photo. That's been replaced, but you can't see the new stadium from I-65.

Indy comes across a very utilitarian city. Form follows function with a parking garage and the squared, boxy buildings of a medical center complex. There's a capital building in the center of the city, but I couldn't see it from the road.

And then there is Dayton, Ohio.

I can't remember if I've been by Dayton or not. I think not. The downtown was less horizontal than Indianapolis, more vertical. Indy was tan. Dayton was steel and black and blue.

My preference is not to drive through a metropolitan area while traveling. I guess that comes from living in Chicagoland and knowing the phrase, "You can't get there from here" very often pertains to traffic in Chicago. But this journey east took me, following the map, unavoidably, past the centers of cities. I love living in Chicago, love looking at the city's profile. I'm so used to the buildings with 50+ stories that buildings with 20 stories being the tallest give me pause while realizing that, to the residents of this city, this is tall.

Many years ago, on a family trip out east, we drove by Charleston, West Virginia. I knew, given the lay of the land, that the Interstate had to be placed in such a manner that you drove right by the capital building. 

At that time, I thought it would be neat to make a pilgrimage to the various capital buildings of all 50 states, take their tours and look at their construction. As I drove by this, I was kind of sad that I let that idea die. I don't believe in "bucket lists". (That's a post for another time.) I simply enjoyed the view of the capital building of West Virginia gently reflecting the sunshine of an August afternoon. 

Beverage:  Earl Gray tea

Deb

Zoom Zoom

It's nearly 1 a.m. on Labor Day. My sleep schedule is more than a little wonky this weekend. I have allowed myself to just be during these days off. That sometimes means that I fall asleep in the recliner with a purring cat in my lap and I don't awaken for an hour. Hence, going to bed when I "should" isn't possible as I'm wide awake.

I've come to the end of an alphabet theme that I kind of fell into early in August. The month went by and, although I tried to keep up, I just couldn't. Last month was the first month since I started blogging that I have not had a post a day. Believe me when I tell you this bothered me, greatly and truly bothered me.

The thing is, I just couldn't. I'd log on and sit here, looking through Flickr for an illustrative photo that would match with the next letter up. I don't know how many times I said to myself, "I can't come up with 'L' or 'P' or 'T'. I've got nothing." Something would pop up. I can usually come up with several posts at a time. You know, if you're a long-time reader, that my posts come in batches. I limit myself to 4 a day when they explode in my head like that. Why 4? That's how many I have on a page. Other bloggers just post one or maybe 2 a day, but when I write, I write so you might as well see all of the ideas that bounced around on this particular date.

During the month of zooming thither and yon, the well nearly ran dry. I was so tired at night, posting was something of a joke. I will often post at work because I have time or post when the inspiration strikes and schedule the post to pop up on the site on a certain day. But having a great deal to do at the office, feeling overwhelmed at home, being tired and worn out from driving was like, to use an overdone cliché, the perfect storm to staunch blogging ideas.

And speaking of storms, August was full of the kind that lend themselves to puddle stomping. I mentioned this blog post at the end of July. I wanted to reciprocate with puddle stomping photos of my own. But, because it's just me, I had to take my photos looking down, me standing in puddles. I took the photo above with the umbrella and then ditched that to just stand in the driveway and get soaked. There is something wonderfully cleansing about a summer rain, particularly one that does not come with percussion and fireworks.

Last weekend, as I was feeling the effects of the RA flare up, it rained. It wasn't a very long rain, maybe 20 minutes, but it was just rain. I went outside and sat in one of the chairs on the deck, just sat, in the rain, on a Saturday afternoon. Yes, you will get wet if you just sit on your deck in the rain, but the "zoom zoom" of the title washed itself away. All the "wouldda", "couldda" and "shouldda" of the past month washed away as well. I let it go. I didn't fight it.

"Zoom zoom" can be really hard to turn off. The obligations of life call for you to be in x place at y time. You must work to provide. Follow these rules. Get this done. Stand here. Don't spit and keep your arms and legs inside the ride at all times. I just wanted off the blinkin' ride by the end of August.

This weekend has been a forced "off". The remnants of Hurricane Isaac wandered through Chicagoland on Saturday. Where I live, we got spotty rain as if it couldn't make up its mind. Only once was the rain strong enough to be interesting to stand in and, at that time, I was checking football scores. By the time I was done, it was over. There was no standing in this for it wasn't there.

Tomorrow is the last day of vacation and then I go back to the office. I go back refreshed and with a better attitude and in a better frame of mind. I thought I'd do all this "stuff" while I was out and what I've wound up doing mostly is sleep. I've done a great deal of self-care, something I struggle with doing when "zoom zoom" is turned on. It's vital and necessary that I have that need to push through things. Life can be a meander but there are times when you have to move it a long a bit. Bills have to be paid and clothes have to be washed so "zoom zoom" is necessary. I just need to figure out how to turn it off and when to turn it off so it's most beneficial.

Yours, at 1:20 a.m. on Labor Day.

Beverage:  Water

Deb

Vacation

September is here. There are leaves on the deck from the tree at the NW corner of the house. The last two days of August went out hot and sweaty and today is delightfully cool.

I finally took two days off just for me. Thursday, I spent getting caught up with bills and other paperwork-type things. Yesterday was spent running the errands I've been too tired to run and boy have I been tired.

As much as I enjoyed, at first, the goings and comings of being in the Jeep and needing to be someplace that generated a mileage check, it wore me down. I started having sleeping problems, particularly on weekends. My right hip, knee and shoulder started aching. My eyes felt like I had sand in them, making driving in the bright sunlight a challenge. And, with the not sleeping came the terrifying times that I dozed off while barreling down the Interstate at 70 miles an hour. A 2 and a half hour drive became a 3 hour and 15 minute drive because I would stop every hour, get out and walk around the Jeep. I came close to buying one of those energy drinks that probably is really not good for me, simply to stay awake.

When I was told, 10 days ago, that I would be spending another day in the town 2.5 hours away and that I had to be there by 9 a.m., I came home that night and cried. What was wrong with me? I had felt wonderful at the beginning of the month. Now, I felt horrible and the prospect of a drive reduced me to tears. That was changed and I did't have to go anywhere. My RA doctor, after listening to my symptoms, said I'd had a full flare up of the RA. I needed to learn self-care and how to unwind as well as develop better sleep habits. I had requested these days off at the beginning of the month and was scared, with all the work we have to do, that I'd need to give them up. Fortunately, I wasn't asked to.

It felt odd, on Thursday, to roll over and see the clock at 7:35 and I was still in bed. A vacation is time to get out and see the country; go somewhere; do something. In July 1971, my dad packed us into the van and we spent a week in northern Minnesota, near the headwaters of the Mississippi River. Off to the right, off the photo, you can walk across the Mississippi. Lake Itasca is the source of the Mississippi's waters. I remember it being cold and clear that day.

We stayed at a campground about 15 miles south of the lake. Here, the Mississippi was about 10 feet deep and about 10 feet wide. It was quite the novelty to be able to look across the main channel of the river; throw a stone over it, in fact, when where I grew up, barges plied the channel and sandbars, backwaters and marsh were plentiful.

When I think of a vacation, I think of this with fondness. I don't think of running to the pharmacy, getting the oil changed, changing my car and homeowner's insurance and saving money in the process, or grocery shopping as being a "vacation". In reality, whether you walk across the headwaters of the Mississippi or walk across the yard to get the mail, as long as it's time for you to sit back and relax, it's a matter of semantics. I've been too tired to blog. This weekend is about centering myself, caring for me and finding the headwaters of who I am.

Beverage:  Darjeeling tea

Deb

Another Month

When did it get to be August? Wasn't it just a couple weeks ago I was frantically cleaning in preparation for Carole and David's visit over Memorial Day weekend? In one month, it will be Labor Day and the end, sort of, of summer. What have I done this summer?

Now, if I spend time assessing what I have done versus what I could have done, you'll find me sitting in a lawn chair in the basement eating a carton of ice cream. That is NOT productive on any level. There are times when personal assessment is a positive thing and then there are the self-flagellation sessions we females seem to specialize in. "I could have had a V-8" turns into, "I could have tiled my kitchen backsplash with ceramic tiles I made myself after I crafted a kiln out of bricks that I made myself." Um...yeah.

First of all, it was too darn hot. It was just not conducive to outdoor activity. I managed, however, to get the deck and the front steps painted, granted both were before the temperature rose to irritating heights. I'm proud of myself for that.

I washed deck chairs and planted flowers in pots on the deck. That's another plus for me. I've gone years with no outside furniture and only the geraniums to greet me. It's been too hot to really enjoy the deck but at least I got the chairs out. In October, a grand reorganization of the storage shed should be undertaken so the chairs are easy to get to next year, considering I did all this work.

Little projects here and there. A mountain of reading finished. Not a week goes by that I don't read one or two of the magazines in the ever diminishing stack. It's good to see it shrinking. In another year, it will be gone and the magazines I do get won't take me months to read.

It was in one of those magazines that I found what I'm going to call my "August project". It was an old Shape magazine. I have no idea how I got this. It just started showing up on my doorstep a year ago. For me, it's a 20 minute read, if that. There's nothing usually in it to interest me and I find it wholly disingenuous. It purports to give you tips on diet and exercise but has huge ads for weight loss supplements of dubious character. You can't have it both ways. Ooooh Holly Madison (Who the heck is she? Would someone enlighten me?) lost an amazing 20 pounds on something I wouldn't feed to a landfill. Looking at her, she had 20 pounds to lose? She could do that just taking off those embellished jeans she's wearing. That doesn't count. Hence, I give Shape no credibility when it comes to weight loss.

But, in the March 2012 issue, which somehow got buried as I usually "read" Shape the day it comes and then recycle it, there were exercises done with weights. I'm looking for non-impact, since my knees won't handle it at the moment, exercises that promote more strength and flexibility than aerobic activity. I looked these over. Bend the knee here? Well, I can modify this a bit. Stretch the arms out and hold it? Well, I won't be able to do 12 repetitions but I could do a few. For the first time since this magazine mysteriously showed up, it had something in it that I could use. I can't do all 6 exercises at a time. I don't have the strength yet. But I could do 3 a day, alternating days.

So, I dug out my weights and did my first three today. I could not do more than 3 reps of exercise number 2 which required me to hold my arms out at shoulder height and curl one arm, then the other, back behind my head. It sounds weird, but it's easy to do, except for holding the arms at shoulder height. It's painful after 3 reps. I don't have the upper arm strength.

I did not get dejected, however. I know I have a ways to go to rebuild what collapsed around me last year. My goal is simple. I will do half of the exercises every day for a week, alternating exercises. Page 1 was today and page 2 is tomorrow. When Sunday comes, I will try again for another week of exercises. It means earlier to bed and earlier to rise so I get these in. It took 15 minutes to do the first three. My goal is no achy feeling when I do 12 reps and to be able to do 12 reps on each exercise. I'm not going to do more reps on those exercises I find easy. Before I move on to 2 sets of 12 reps, I have to be able to do 1 set on all of them with ease and without pain or achy muscles. My ultimate goal is to do these every day through the whole of August, one week at a time.

I'm reminded of a song from the animated Christmas special "Santa Claus is Coming to Town". Mickey Rooney sings this.

Put one foot in front of the other
And soon you’ll be walking cross the floor
Put one foot in front of the other
And soon you’ll be walking out the door

You never will get where you’re going
If you never get up on your feet
Come on, there’s a good tail wind blowing
A fast walking man is hard to beat

My goal is greater flexibility and mobility. I found the Wheaton Park District has Tai Chi classes. They help with flexibility. I've found one I can take on Saturday mornings beginning in October. I'm signing up next week, as soon as I can.

This has been the most productive summer in the last 2-3 for me. As August starts and the end of summer draws near, I want to build on this success and go forward. I almost gave my weights away last year. It's a good thing I didn't. I'm pretty sure I can't bench press either of the cats.

Beverage:  Dr Pepper

Deb

Knee High by Fourth of July

"There's a bright golden sun in the meadow. There's a bright golden sun in the meadow. The corn is as high as an elephant's eye and it looks like it's climbing right up to the sky."

It rained today and the sun came out which turned outside into a bit of a steam bath. This is corn-growin' weather. Ample moisture, brilliant sunshine and warm temperatures combine to make it grow 3-4 inches a day.

When I was growing up, the phrase "knee high by fourth of July" meant you were going to have a good crop. Now days, with hybrids, pesticides and herbicides, if it's not chest high by July 4th, something is seriously wrong with your corn. This shot was taken between Sabula and Maquoketa and is typical of Iowa corn.

I'm an introvert. All that means is that I get recharged when I'm away from people. Extroverts get recharged when they are with people. Growing up on a farm, in the summer, my favorite place to recharge my batteries in August was the corn field. It could be 98 walking out to the field, but you dive into the rows and the temperature drops a good 10-15 degrees. I would lie down on the ground, on my back, and look up at the sky. You could smell it. You could almost hear it growing.

There are times, when life gets maddening, that I sincerely wish I knew someone who would let me lie down in their corn field. No cell phone. No computer. No "modern life" with me. Just the smell of August in a corn field. Troubles would certainly seem less invasive after spending a couple hours lying on the ground looking up.

Beverage: Belhaven Scottish ale

Deb