WOMEN AGES 50+ FOR AUGUST 2023

Good morning, all.

Allie: Looks like you are enjoying your time with family.
Machka: 🥰 the graphic. It’s good to be reminded that we need balance in all areas of our lives. You are such a dynamo. And well done on the steady weight loss.

Nothing pressing today apart from my usual trip to our local shops for fresh produce. Beef for tomorrow, and some fresh bread for lunches.

It’s a bank holiday weekend, then next Friday I have my first group meeting, Parchment Craft. The following week will be busy as I get back into the swing of things. I have some prep work to do as I get ready for the new semester.

🤗 🤗 🤗 and 🙏🏻 🙏🏻 🙏🏻

Miele failte to our new girls.

☘️ Terri

We had rain last night too. The geraniums are not happy bunnies.

This morning, as the sky was blue, and there was no wind, I decided to try my thigh out with a 'run'. I was just getting back into 5k, after my broken wrist, when the aductor muscle in my thigh decided to play up. I obviously have a weakness there, as I have had it before, years ago. I've been doing the PT on it for about a week.
So, I rubbed on some ibuprofen gel, and off I went. I completed 2 miles, instead of my normal 3, but I consider that a win, and the thigh held out. I did sit down from time to time, but I am happy. Mustn't push recovery too fast.

On the way back I bought escalopes from the butcher for tomorrow, and pine nuts for pesto from the deli, among other things. My basil plant on my kitchen windowsill has grown so tall! I'm going to hack it down. Dinner tonight is pesto with broccoli, peas and ham. DH has pasta, me shiritaki, as I've run out of cauliflower rice. Still on my low carb kick!

I had a lovely long chat with L last evening, who had just got back from a 9 day tour of various friends. From Wales to Derbyshire, Birmingham, and Hay. She drove herself. She said she felt more like herself than she had done in years. Very freeing. (She was widowed 20 months ago in a sudden cardiac arrest) She did subsume a lot of herself in her husband, who had a lot of problems. Now she is rediscovering the L she used to be. She is the same age as me - nearly 74. Widowhood has been a very difficult time for her, including a hip replacement.

Now to have a bath and wash my hair.

Love Heather UK xxxxxxxx

Barbara AHMOD-missed your question regarding retirement.
Rita-I find meditation very helpful. It clears my mind and helps me focus. It doesn't have to take a huge amount of time. As Machka and other point out-we need all facets of us balanced to be healthy. At different times and different facet needs focus.

Terri- I envy you and Heather's opportunities to go to fresh markets. While we have "fresh" vegetables at grocery stores it is not quite the same as I experienced when in England. We do have a farmer's market during the summer which can be nice but the rest of the year not much. Always guessing when you buy the exactly how fresh they are and how long they will last.

Kate UK- the rain you experienced sounds much like what we had Thursday morning-very intense storms-then extreme humidity. Friday was brutal. Temperatures moderating nicely for the next week. We are moving into our fall cycle.

Heather- glad the leg seems to be rehabbing. It can take so long. I am asking podiatrist about a new x ray for my left foot. The neuropathy is better since my thyroid medication change but now I can really feel the bone pain in the top of foot. Want to make sure nothing else is going on other than arthritis and if that is it going to ask for cortisone shot to tame it-over the counter and creams not helping.

Today's big adventure is eye exam and selection of new frames. I did on-line try on of several types a week or so ago so I have a list of what I want to try. Want to get frames with a bit of color this time-possibly purple or blue. May reuse old frames for new sun glasses and computer glasses if prescription changed enough for new lenses. Watching GS play soccer tomorrow. Should be relaxing weekend.

Take care all,

Ginny in Ohio

Hello, everyone...

Reading along, but not quite awake yet. John and Soraya got here safe and sound last night within just a few minutes of when they thought they would. I approve of people who do what they say they're going to do... Was up until ten talking to them.

I think I'm going to love Soraya. She is an earnest person, and the sincerity in her exudes from every pore. He seems to have found a relationship very much like mine and his father's. She's eight years older, ex-military, wide-open emotionally, and in a place where she's willing to express what she needs and wants. She and I have a tremendous number of things in common, and loving John is just one of them. I'll be interested to see how all this plays out.

That worry, "But what if I can't handle being around her?" has also subsided. Living for four days with a stranger in your house is kinda weird, when you get down to it. Our house is quiet, peaceful, never noisy... a genuinely restful haven for us, and she just fit right in last night. John's first wife, by comparison, was always so nervous around us that she was like watching popcorn cooking in an open skillet. Exhausting.

And of course, seeing and hugging Johnny for the first time in two and a half years was just awesome. We've missed that boy, and texts and calls just aren't enough. I say "boy," but he will be 30 in October. He's changed very little, just a little more solid, a little quieter in his soul--most likely that last is Soraya's doing.

I think she's brought light to a lot of his dark places--some of you may remember years ago when his depression was overwhelming him and I was talking to him nearly daily in Denver, trying to inch him away from suicide. He's so much better now. The awareness of how much another person loves you and needs you can steady your life down in ways you didn't know existed, in the end.

OK, now I'm getting philosophical, it's time to go... they brought me a stained glass and copper hummingbird suncatcher that I want to get put up in my kitchen window before the sun comes up, and a lovely pair of turquoise earrings. They brought Corey beer. Does that boy know us, or what?

Later, y'all,
Love,
Lisa in AR

Morning again,
Caught another hours sleep up and dressed and ready for the adventure of the day and of the Seas the name of the ship.
Going down to have a little breakfast and then relax until its time to go.Yipeee