Month: February 2019

35 Days….

~ Natsgirl ~ 5 Comments

Spring is coming. For New England, with our shift in seasons, it means the heaviest snows still lie ahead of us. Where January and February were deep winter, now it’s March and April. Northern winter has crept closer, the wind currents that protected us from the coldest winds disrupted as our climate changes. I don’t make that statement lightly. I work in an industry that places bets based on weather events, and the world of insurance embraced the reality of climate shift years ago.

For me, it’s not a matter of politics. It’s a matter of profits and trips planning, product development and budgeting for heat. It impacts both my work and my personal life, and so if you read a great deal about weather in these short messages, there’s the reason.

Training has begun. There will be back-packing again this Spring, and resuming my duties patrolling the boundaries of the Appalachian Trail. There is the treat of Yosemite in July, but also the hikes I’ll take with my new Scout troop of young girls who prefer tents to cabins and making fires to learning about fabrics. And then, Scotland and hiking the highlands in Fall.

So far, five pounds down and another fifteen to go. I’ll switch back to my skinny jeans and I’ll be resigned to skin that doesn’t snap back the way it used to. In another four weeks, I’ll give myself a break, scaling back to four days instead of six. I’ll scale back the protein, and resume my quest for the best red wine made in Connecticut. (So far, it’s been an elusive hunt, but I keep trying)

My best to all of you, and my gratitude and thanks to Ms Buffy, who got this chapter so late, but took time out of her day to make sure it was back so I could post it. You are a wizard in your own way, and I gratefully acknowledge the skillful editing that makes this chapter read so much more smoothly. Thank you!

Chapter 35 – Mandala

Early start…

~ Natsgirl ~ Leave a comment

I’ve restructured my schedule (again) so that Sunday morning is a rest day. Kind of. (Not really).

I’m not getting up at the butt-crack of dawn to exercise on Sundays. I’m waiting until noon. Most days I find myself up and at the gym by 5:30. It’s the beginning of my new battle, the one whose flag reads, ‘I will not go softly into old age.’ It doesn’t mean I don’t enjoy the experience that comes with this side of that tall hill. I do. I enjoy having seen so much because it gives me the grace to be amused by the things that pissed me off before.

I’ve learned to savor the small moments. I pull over when the sun hits the trees just right in winter, giving the bare branches that rare, elusive shade of pink. I slow my step when I see fall leaves brushing against white birch. I close my eyes and breath in the heavy sweetness of summer in the forest and in Spring, the quick, loamy smell of damp soil that signals the waking of things.

I have learned that each moment is its own miracle, and that no matter how often you make mistakes during any day, the next morning you have that chance to begin anew.

But there are things I’ve needed to changed. Three new words have been added to my morning mantra: strength, flexibility and balance.

I watch women my age slow and fade. They tuck into cookies and eating out and the lives of their children before their own. They lose their rhetoric and become more judgmental as their lives shrink into the confines of their houses. They have no time for a glass of wine or a walk on the weekends. They talk of travel, but never go if not in the company of family.

I can’t judge them. I can only say that for now, that life is not for me. This year the big trips are Yosemite and back to Scotland. I walk with others this year, and am trying to figure out how to add at least one more trip that will allow me time to walk the trails on my own, for it is during those walks that I find myself.

My best to all of you on this slower Sunday morning. There is a treat. I’ve re-posted The Horn with Ms Buffy’s edits, as well as this latest chapter, Tangled Webs. If you read last week’s chapter, you’ll notice the improvements! Ms Buffy truly is the best.

Chapter 34 – Tangled Webs