2022 Happy To Be Here

It is the last day of August. I'm tired of the heat of summer and looking forward to September weather. I'm thankful for the seasons and the changes that they bring. Other things I am thankful for: When I let a supervisor at work know the job I was doing was making me feel ill, they switched where I was. Sometimes, packages coming at me fast along the rollers give me an upset stomach. Today I was at the fastest area and it didn't go well. So I'm thankful they moved me. There is a possibility that I will have more help with weaving. I'm very thankful for this. I finished the first pattern on the weaving, crossed fencing swords. I'm hopeful that at least some of the pieces will be ready before the event.  I'm thankful that I am remembering how to weave and some little tricks are coming back to me. ☮ I'm going to try to get back into the habit of listing what I am reading... Currently reading: Pocketful of Miracles: Prayer, Meditations, and Affir

Tuesdays are my first day back to work after a four day weekend. I'm generally always tired and today was no exception. Somehow, today went by faster than expected and that was good. Other happy things from today: While getting ready for work I thought I smelled a skunk. It thankfully didn't persist. When I left for work I moved carefully, there was no sign of a skunk and I am really happy about that. I did a little bit more weaving. Baby steps. ☮ Thank you for being part of my happy things.  Stay safe.

When I left to walk the dog, Aesop, this morning I didn't expect that he would want to go far. Boy, was I surprised. I didn't turn on either of my programs to map the walk or distance. If my memory serves, we walked about 3 miles. It was too hot for me to have done this without being better prepared by bringing water. Thankfully Aesop found a puddle. It was a good walk. Other happy things from today include: When I came across rocks on the trail that I could hop on, I did, as if crossing a small stream. It makes for a fun diversion while allowing me to practice my eye/foot coordination and balance. In the other room, Gideon and Zed are playing a game. The occasional words that I hear, as simple as "Yes!" Or "Nooo!" Bring joy to my heart. I finally started weaving for the event coming in a few weeks. I haven't done too much yet, but enough to know that changes need to be made and that I don't have enough on the loom to finish the projects.

It was later than I wanted to leave this morning, but I made it to archery practice. There was one new person, one friend who just came to visit, three other friends and me. I'm glad I renewed my interest in archery. It was a fun morning. Other happy things from today: Walking with a friend after archery. She took me down some country trails. We saw a place where there used to be a bridge. We also found a geocache ! At home our quest to watch all the Marvel movies and series continued with Black Widow . Such an intense movie! ☮ Thank you for being part of my happy things!  Stay safe.

Our couch has a cover for it that I am having a hard time keeping on right now.  It slips, I try to fix it and it slips again.  I need to pull the thing out to fix it right and I haven't taken the time to do that.  Anyhow, Aesop, our dog, decided he liked the cave that was created by the cover slipping and made himself comfortable. Here are some other happy things for Saturday: I decided to walk the four miles into the city today. It would have been slightly more pleasant had I remembered to wear a hat. Somehow I didn't get a sunburn.  Here are some pictures from the walk: Zed, Gideon, and Aesop were already in the city with friends. I thought they had left already and was pleasantly surprised to find them ordering some lunch at the new place in town. It was a nice short visit with all the people and Keziah came as well to bring and Aesop me home. There was a bunch of stuff that I borrowed from a friend for Pennsic. I visited with her and returned most of the stuff this a

It took over an hour and a half of standing in line (sometimes in the rain) before we were able to place our order. I brought a book, Keziah had a book on her phone, and we both had games on our phones. Eventually we reached the end of the line and ordered our last meal from Skip's Snack Bar. My mom worked there as a teenager and the place always held a bit of nostalgia for me. Other happy things from today: Keziah stayed inside waiting for our number to be called while I went outside. The building was at capacity so they could cycle people through faster if less were inside at a time. Outside I was able to locate a Geocache! I don't tend to look for these while I am alone so it was cool to find it without help. Not a picture of the geocache, but the huge yard behind the restaurant. We got our burgers and delicious Suzie Q potato fries and headed to my aunt's house. We had picked up a meal for her as well and had a nice visit, catching up on things. I was too busy framing

Time is such an ever changing constant. It always moves at the same rate yet sometimes it drags on and other times it flies by. And so it goes that I feel like my day has dragged on but the month is flying by. The afternoon was spent trying to sleep. FitBit claims I got almost two hours of broken sleep but it didn’t feel like it. When the time came to write, I fell asleep, of course! Here are some happy things from Thursday: It was a long night at work, perhaps because it was the last day of my week. There were good interactions with other employees though that remind me to try to be someone else's good interaction. Sometimes candy is handed out at work and I usually say no because it is often chocolate. This time I got a Charms Blow Pop. This is not a candy of choice, but it kept me awake for my short ride home and was fun while it lasted in a reminiscent sort of way. With the family in the evening we had root beer floats and finished watching the Loki series. In this se

 For Thankful Wednesday I am thankful that a few days ago Zed was able to get my laptop usable again.  The touch screen is turned off since that seems to be where the problem is.  It is good to be able to type on a keyboard instead of my phone.  Some other thankful things for today: It has been a week and a half since I got back from my Pennsic vacation.  I think that is long enough for me to be thankful that I didn't get sick with anything while I was there.  I know others who did, but we are all fine.  To my knowledge, the others that I know who got sick, are doing alright--I'm thankful for that too. I am thankful for text and similar types of messaging.  I have had brief conversations over different media today and it is good to 'hear' from friends even when the voice isn't used.   Pets are something else I am thankful for today.  For some reason both the cats have decided that my room is the place to be. ☮ Thank you for being part of my happy things.  Stay safe.

 We missed the window of opportunity to harvest any peaches.  The local wildlife however did not.  I moved a wildlife camera to the very overgrown garden and got some evidence as to what animals are scavenging for food there.  The videos I have uploaded to YouTube are my happy things for today.  It has been a while and I hope I did it all right.  Enjoy! https://youtu.be/eGde2FkGAM4 https://youtu.be/sPTce7Xg-f8 https://youtu.be/Z478nzo-pOs https://youtu.be/CakS5Z6Aisg https://youtu.be/4XVWowksaO8 ☮ Thank you for being part of my happy things.  Stay safe.

This morning I worked on getting some of my room straight.   It has become out of control and so I tamed a little of it.  Just a little, but a baby step is better than no step.  Other happy things from today: --The rain was nice and held off until after I took a walk this afternoon.  --Along the trail there was an odd moss formation that, even though it may be dieing, I found to be kind of pretty.   --Keziah and I went grocery shopping and she bought me a doughnut.  It was covered with powdered sugar and had a sweet marshmallow type stuffing.   ☮️ Thank you for being part of my happy things.  Stay safe. 

It was a good day, another hot one, but I got more of the lawn mowed.  Here are a few happy things from today: -- After Pennsic I had SO MUCH laundry.  Most of it got done today.  I got the quilt from my bed washed and hung on the line to dry.   It smells like the outdoors. --We have a smart speaker in the kitchen.  While doing the dishes I can say,  "Okay,  Google, play some music by the Mamas and the Papas," and the music plays. It is a wonderful thing.  --The first signs of autumn coming are starting to appear. ☮️ Thank you for being part of my happy things. Stay safe. 

After I had mowed some of the lawn, done some dishes, and started some of the more intensive unpacking task, Gideon said he wanted to have a lazy Saturday.  Sometimes the young ones have the best ideas. I was hoping for a little Geocaching with him but he wanted the lazy day.  Instead, he played games or watched videos on his phone and I did dishes, unpacked, and had some lazy time while Keziah and Zed went out.  There is something to be said for lazy days, especially when it is hot out.  Other happy things from today: -- The mowing happened in the late morning.  After I came in, hot and sweaty, I went up to Keziah's room to talk with her.  Opening her door and stepping into her air conditioned room was refreshing.  It felt so good I forgot what I wanted to talk with her about.  -- My lazy activities today were reading, watching some Netflix, and taking a nap.  -- We made rootbeer floats for dessert.   -- Gideon wasn't interested in doing a Geocache but I convinced Zed to try f

There are things that are hard for me after Pennsic.  To name a few: Getting back to routines, being inside, and wearing pants (and not gowns).  Since three years had gone by between Pennsics this time I forced the pants on early and am good with that.  It took a few days, but being inside is better.  Having to go back to work and being too tired to be outside much helped.  I'm still working on the routines though.  Or perhaps, I'm resisting some of the routines--like the dishes!  Haha!  Or reading regularly.  Here are some happy things from today: --At Pennsic, there were people.  People in camp or in passing.  Sometimes, for this introvert, there were too many people.  Still, being with people can be good.  So tonight I went to craft night and there were some people.   I could sit in my corner and listen, like introverts do, and only enter in conversation if I wanted.   --Not only were there people, but people who do arts or crafts or both.  At least calligraphy, knitting, ca

Somehow,  I had a hard time staying asleep last night.  Hopefully that won't be a problem tonight.  My work week is over so I can sleep in tomorrow.   Other happy things from today include: --I had a nice talk with TF this afternoon.   Her daughter is getting married next month so there are plans and happy things going on in her life now.    --When I was staying gluten-free there were so many things that I had to stay away from.  Most of these things are obvious.  To make it easy on myself, I found three or four flavors of gluten-free canned soup that I could have.  One that I couldn't have,  and missed, was Butternut Squash Bisque soup.  I had some for dinner tonight and it was yummy.  --When I started my current job the first thing I was trained in is called stowing.  I enjoyed certain parts of the work like making the boxes fit into the big bags. Later I learned what is called picking, and then I learned diverting.  There are other parts too but they aren't relevant righ

It is that midweek (I'm so tired) post where I find things to be thankful for.   -- I'm thankful that I was able to take two weeks off from work and get paid for it.  I used up my vacation and personal time to do so, but so be it.  It was great to look at my bank account and see more money than expected because I forgot it was payday. -- Yesterday I got much needed sleep. This meant my work day went better. --During vacation, I remembered to practice Spanish on DuoLingo.   Even with the battery on my phone dieing now and then, it got done.  ☮️ Thank you for being part of my happy things.  Stay safe.

We were gone for a little over two weeks.  My sleep patterns adjusted and I was unable to get to sleep last night for a long time.  FitBit has me sleeping less than three hours.  I still went to work, and stayed almost until the end.  I chose to leave a little early because I was exhausted.  I'm happy I made it as long as I did.  Other happy things: -- One of the managers asked how my vacation was.  In a place where I try to be invisible, it can be good to know I am not. --The peaches ripened while we were gone.  We might not get any,  but other wildlife are enjoying them.   --We were gifted some bagels and cream cheese before leaving Pennsic.   It is yet another thing that makes me happy that I am eating gluten again.  ☮️ Thank you for being part of my happy things. Stay safe. 

The long day of travel yesterday after a day of packing and travel left me very tired today.  I wish I could say that unpacking happened, but I had an errand to run.  My morning went slow and when I went to leave, some things happened that got me very frustrated.   Thankfully I got a call from TF.  We didn't talk while I was gone so it was really nice to hear her voice.  Other happy things from today: --After my errand I went for a walk.   This helped improve my mood even more. --The woods were pretty today.  I mostly followed a 5K marked trail. --Someone, maybe the library, placed book pages along one of the trails. ☮️ Thank you for being part of my happy things.  Stay safe. 

August 14th Yesterday, perhaps because packing was the priority, I forgot to post about the milestone I hit.  Everyday, for two full years, I reached my 10,000 steps a day goal.   I'm not sure if I will continue with this streak or not, but two years!  Other happy things from today in no particular order: --Amid the green in the following picture is a part of the Appalachian Trail that is between east and west Interstate 90 in Massachusetts.  There is a walking bridge to cross the highway. --We drove east on interstate 90 through New York to get home.  We passed by a quarry.  I'm not sure how big a quarry tends to be but this one seemed really large.  To sate my curiosity,  or boredom,  I went to the internet to research the quarry a little.  What I found was the customer comments list.  It was full of rock puns.  Here is a sample... --We had two cars and three drivers for the trip home from Pennsic.  Somehow Zed and Keziah were able to do all the drivin

It was pack up and go day at Pennsic.  Almost everyone is gone by Saturday; only a few people stay until Sunday.  It took most of the day to pack up all the things.  The one thing that I spent a bunch of time on was getting the shower pieces clean and dry.  I'm so happy that the day was dry for packing.  Other happy things from today: --Once the sun hit the chairs this morning and things started drying out a thin, lovely mist rose from them.  The picture doesn't do it justice. --Packing up is hard physically and emotionally.  In all honesty, I usually have a meltdown at some point during the process.   I think I only got really frustrated once and it was short lived.  No meltdown! That made the day much better than in some previous years. --Packing up went well because there were some great people who helped get the job done.  And while I concentrated on packing up the Baronial part of the encampment, Zed concentrated on our personal things.   Camping for two weeks

As the last full day of Pennsic comes to a close I am feeling sad it is ending but happy to be going home to my own room soon and house with an indoor shower, laundry, and indoor plumbing.   Other happy things from today: --I made it back to the archery range to shoot the war points at the clout shoot.   The clout is a good sized target at about 100 yards.  We shoot from where the short white posts are.  The target to aim at is the one in the distance with the castle type wall around it.   Getting an arrow inside the castle wall is three points.  Hitting the target in the middle (Medusa) is four.  I don't remember what that closer target was worth, I didn't try that one.  The first six arrows I shot I scored zero.  The next six, all of them scored and each round after that I scored something.  I'm pleased with how I did. I even hit the Medusa in the middle a couple times.  --On the walk back from archery the Field Battle people were takin