Our Melody

Our granddaughter ... all fancied up in a beautiful dress that used to belong to her Aunt Lisa.

Photo taken by Melody's mom, Julie Otto

A Favorite

From the Rodin museum in Philadelphia, PA in 2017. Oh, I loved getting to visit that museum!

This image popped up on my "this day in photos" app and I had to share. It brings up feelings of well-being inside me.

I'd love to return sometime.

Enduring Change

It takes patience and persistence,

and balance and breath,

and the tenacity to lift one foot after the next.

A Simple Life

A simple life is what Dale and I are growing here in Oregon. 

We eat simply at home, and go to two favorite restaurants as a treat. 

We learn about our surroundings by visiting parks and searching for geocaches. Those activities are taking us to quiet parts of town we never knew existed.

Our personal pastimes are full of crafting and reading and word games and puzzles and taking photos and delving deeply into favorite topics and gazing into the night skies.

For exercise, we walk or ride a bike or do simple stretches.

We nap.

We enjoy some movies separately because we have quite different tastes. Then we come together to watch old favorites like all seven seasons of The West Wing. We're both avid podcast fans and listen to them together and on our own.

We relish our time with Jeanne, with Jodie and Kenny, with Julie, Jeff, and the grandkids ... even if only via text or video calls. Spending hours with them in person is our delight.

Dale and I enjoy each other's company. We love each other's humor. We replenish with time to ourselves.

In our retirement, there is a lot of breathing space. We've released most activities and relationships that cause angst. We can tell the difference between what's important and what is not.

We are grateful for all these blessings. It's our simple life. 
 

Be Grouch-y

 

Wise man, Groucho.

How to Be a Beauty

As I continue to heal, I'm leaning on old habits -- like reading favorite quotations. I like to connect to authors and thinkers that have come before me.

In general, I don't enjoy Roald Dahl's writing, He reminds me of Tim Burton. They see things from a skewed point of view. But I do like this.

Keeping a Positive Attitude

Well, now! 

I haven't been blogging because I've come down with a case of shingles. That's fun. 

That link takes you to the CDC website. Check out the photos if you dare.

My shingles landed on my back ... right where my bra sits (IF I could wear one ... I can't right now). Considering my body shape, this is a significant development.

But I'm grateful to have excellent health care. We caught the problem early. I have good meds that leave me a little shaky and dopey, but not as itchy and prickly as I am without them.

I slept well last night, so woke up with a positive attitude. I'm keeping the image below in mind today as I look into this Oregon sky. I'm optimistic that I can find the sun behind all these rainclouds. Thank you, Uncle Walt.

Today will be my first #PhoneFreeFriday of 2023. I'm leaving my phone on Do Not Disturb for the day. My intention is to give myself a big block of time to concentrate on a project long enough that I can move into the deep flow state.

Wish me luck.

New Year

Time to plant some seeds to take root in this new year.

 

(attributed to Theodore Parker, but I heard it on the Inspirational Living podcast)

Weekend Plans

Every year, my favorite part of the week between Christmas and New Year's Day is reflecting on the year gone by, and planning for the new year. I also take time to spiffy up my Studio so I have fresh room to work.

I completed most of the planning today. Tomorrow will be devoted to reflection.

I've decided on my 2023 goals:

Word of the Year: Flow
This means to get completely involved in what I am doing – focused, concentrated. It's when I'm in a space where there is no time. It's present. I also want to get better about "going with the flow" instead of resisting when circumstances cause a change in plans. I want to circulate more in the world since I'm finally starting to get used to being in crowded places again after three years of Covid. And I want to learn to use a flow medium for paint to give my painted rocks a new twist.

2023 Objective: Bring more FUN into my life
My least favorite question I'm asked by my mental health professional is, "What do you do for fun?" My answers are lame. I want to have more fun. I want my brain to sparkle.

2023 Creative Goal: Go on another Creative Journey with photography. 

I first started learning to take photos by ... just taking photos. I received a point-and-shoot digital camera in 2005. Every day for a couple years, I took photos and posted the very best one of the day on my website. I learned a lot. I'd like to do something similar. This time, read the photo books by great photographers in my personal library, figure out a couple setups for a photo studio, learn some principles of design using online classes, learn more about my editing program, things like that.

23 Goals in 2023: 

To keep it simple, I plan to visit 23 more parks in the area with Dale on our Tuesday Travels. If I do that, I'll call it a win for the year.

To make it complicated, I have some alternate goals that involve many kinds of crafts, movies, puzzles, gratitude, geocaches, giving things away, spending time with friends and daughters, listening to audiobooks, and leaving pretty art objects out in the wild for others to find and make their day.

Lift a glass of sparkling cider with me to toast in the new year ... 

My retired life is still full of possibility and learning and being of service to others.

Good Enough

Today ... not even excellence. I'm a bit under the weather (which is cloudy and rainy), so I'm shooting for good enough. 

I like the sentiment, even though I don't chase perfection any more. That's a young woman's game.

A Little Bit o' Paradise

 

Come Fly with Me

Every year, on the week between Christmas and New Year's Day, I take time to reflect and plan. I reflect in writing on the year gone by, remembering lessons learned, "wins," things in myself that could use some updating. I plan by picking my "Word of the Year," by deciding on a main focus for the coming year, and by making lists. My main list is "23 in 2023," a list of goals to reach for.

I happened upon this image today. I'm not only the pilot for 2023, I'm the navigator.

I think I'll fly through the week with this in mind.

Reminders (to Myself)

 Merry Christmas, my friends.

The Music Room

Here's another puzzle Dale and I put together during our "confinement" after Thanksgiving. My sister Janet gave this to me as a birthday gift. It was a fun challenge.

I so enjoy these 500 piece Ravensburger Puzzles. They're just the right size for an afternoon of enjoyment. The quality of the pieces is top notch, so they feel good in my hands as I work with them. And there's a lot of great details in the illustrations.

Keeping Ourselves Occupied

Dale and I were both sick over the Thanksgiving weekend, then the virus hung around for a couple weeks. We were too miserable to be out and about, but not miserable enough to stay in bed. So we wiled away hours and hours putting these four jigsaw puzzles together.

This is the Four Seasons Collection from Jane Wooster Scott. Four 500-piece puzzles. They're the kind Dale gravitates to. Country settings with illustrations of a cozy, simple life. I'm charmed by the many detailed vignettes in each illustration.

We started with Winter

Then moved on to Spring

Then Summer

Then Autumn

We sat side-by-side while doing a simple activity, listening to podcasts, and re-watching The West Wing. If I have to be sick, passing time like this with my best guy makes it bearable.

2022 Family Christmas Ornaments

Jeanne came by last Sunday for another Crafternoon to make this year's family Christmas ornaments. I've long had a tradition of making Christmas ornaments for every member of the family.

Last year, I had an idea without a clear plan of execution. I gathered all the pieces, but wasn't sure how to put them together. Jeanne is an excellent problem-solver. Together, we noodled out how to construct these acorn ornaments. 

Being a carpenter, Jeanne is very comfortable with power tools, so was in charge of drilling the tiny holes in the acorn caps. I was in charge of threading ribbon through the bells with a needle, knotting the slippery thread, then threading the needle through the acorn cap. 

I adhered the bells and marbles into the acorn caps with hot glue. Jeanne was in charge of attaching the jump rings to connect the three ribbons.

Each ornament has two bells and one clear marble in the acorn caps. The white ribbons are three different lengths so that the acorns hang in a pleasing way. The jump ring connects through the loops of the white ribbons. The red bow is tied in place under the jump ring, then held snug to it with a drop of hot glue.

I've packaged the ornaments in these gossamer bags. That's a nice touch.

If you're wondering, the beaded ornaments we made a few weeks back are for my own tree. I'm getting quite a nice collection of blue/pearl/clear 'crystal' beaded ornaments now. I love making ornaments. Over the years, I've made so many that I now have enough for three trees!

This year our tree is full of the family ornaments. Unwrapping them from their tissue paper parcels and hanging them on the Christmas tree is like opening treasured gifts. They bring back wonderful memories.

Tuesday Travels: Geocaching

For my birthday this year, I asked that Dale, Jeanne, and Jodie join me on a full day of geocaching. I so love that activity! But I was sick. The outing was canceled. Whah!

So instead of visiting parks today, Dale and I went to a new-to-us part of town to do some local geocaching for a few hours.

It was threatening to storm all day, but we managed to get out in between the raindrops. It was overcast and in the mid-40s. That's usually good geocaching weather. But there was a brisk wind that kept us from searching for any one cache for too long.

Geocaches are often hidden in cemeteries. Today we found one in an old cemetery on top of a hill, hidden between rows of big houses. Unfortunately, quite a number of the headstones and monuments have been vandalized. Yet what remains are works of art.

This large monument was in a family plot. A child had died.

Three sides of this monument were intact, but the fourth side had been vandalized. Such a shame.

Near the cache in the cemetery I found the big painted rock. I found the smaller rock near another cache. Two more for my collection. I'll re-hide these once I'm done admiring them.

Altogether we found six caches (and couldn't find three) in 3-1/2 hours. We even found two in neighborhood parks, so I guess I can add Skyview Park and Hawkins Heights to our Eugene Park Tour.

The best cache of the day was inside the "attic" of a Little Free Library in a quiet neighborhood. It was quite clever. I left some extra swag there for the next cache enthusiast to discover.

Beaded Ornaments

Earlier this month when I was over the contagious part of the virus, but still not feeling up to par, Jeanne came to spend some time with me for a Crafternoon date. We decided to make up one of the beaded ornament kits from my stash. 

Jeanne picked this set of 6 blue and white icicles. There are 6 sizes of pearl beads, some blue starburst beads and blue seed beads. The ornaments are formed on wire.

I love the sweep of small pearl seed beads alternating along the sides of the larger pearl beads. They give the design a lot of movement.

The first set of ornaments went together quickly, so we decided to make up a second kit of four ornaments. I purchase my bead kits from Mary Maxim.

The instructions there called for a spiral bottom to the ornament. Then the beads are strung.

The top of the ornament endswith this large hook.

Jeanne and I work quite well together. After all these years of crafting, I'm allowed to organize all the bits and beads. Jeanne's responsible for reading the instructions and explaining each step as we go along.

My old frozen dinner trays come in very handy in my Studio. This time they held the different sizes of beads. I used Post-It notes to mark the sizes.

After completing the ornaments and tidying up the Studio, we had some fun "modeling" the ornaments by placing those big hooks over the top of our ears. They make quite the stunning earrings, don't you think?

"The Fun Mom" strikes again.

Honestly, spending time with Jeanne definitely helped my healing.

My Little Loves

I happened across this photo yesterday. I was taken in 1989. This is my dad, Tony Codispoti, with my two eldest on his lap, Jeanne on the left, Julie on the right. The photo was taken in Moscow, Idaho at my parents' place. I have precious few photos like this, with my dad lovin' on my kids, reading to them. 

In 1989 I was a single mom having some pretty rough times with these two little ones. So to recall this moment is extremely heartwarming.

Meditation Stacks

 

Rock snowmen?  Rockmen?

At Sorrel Pond

Throwback Thursday: Christmas Memories

Some family memories from years gone by.

The year a tree fell through our roof in winter. Jeanne made this iconic image in memoriam. We used it as our Christmas card in 2014.

Candy Canes were made by Jeanne and Julie when they were in 1st grade.

Fruit Loop garland, made when the kids were little. It's now on the grandkids' tree!

The angel that topped our tree for years, made from a "dancing" doll that my daughters didn't particularly like. We cherish her as a tree topper, though.

Our family at Christmas in 2007. Jeanne lived out of state at the time.

Wood snowman made by my mother-in-law, Joany. She was a talented painter. This is the gift from her that I love the most. I hang it by the front door every year.

A Country Ride

Tuesday Travels found us at Cascadia County Park near the town of Sweet Home northeast of Eugene in Linn County. Dale and I stopped at several scenic viewpoints along the way.

Shea Point, Foster Lake

Beautiful. We even found a geocache near the parking lot.
 

Still Tucked In

Padding around the house in my slippers, staying inside where it's warm and dry, keeping close to a box of facial tissues. 

Sigh

Getting Better

Dale and I have been sick with a virus for over a week. Thank goodness, it's not Covid. Being feverish and weak wasn't a very happy way to spend my 65th birthday, though. We're only now getting our strength back.

Maybe we'll be ready to fly again before too long.

I took this photo near San Diego, California in 2015.