valeriesbookofme

  We have had wonderful rain almost every day this week. And the result is beautiful: I took that last photo at 7 pm near where I am dog sitting. I felt very happy that those are the residual clouds from the rain storm and not smoke. I wish that all those areas that are experiencing wildfires could have this as well. The scale said this morning that I am two pounds down for the month of July and the tape measure said that I have lost an inch on my hips. It was hard work but it felt good. I celebrated by buying some capri leggings at my favorite store in Bisbee yesterday. I will wear them for Zumba instead of my baggier capris. Which leads me to my major thought for today but first a bit of an introduction. My cousin sent me a link to an interview with Pema Chodron and Bill Moyers: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tz-fB8e8LsM. Chodron is so down to earth and peaceful! One of the parts of the interview that was key for me—that I am chewing over—is her statement tha...

This morning I found out that an old friend has had to go to a care home here in Sierra Vista. She's 10 years older than I am and been in poor health for a long time. The care home here is scary, like the worst kind of care home you could envision. I will be going over to visit her shortly and memories of the several people that she and I have visited there in the past have been crowding in. Richard says he wants to be shot rather than going to a care home. I don't feel quite that extreme but it's not a prospect that I want to dwell on. My mother-in-law ended her days at a lovely care home in Lethbridge. There is one like that here in town, that wouldn't be a bad thing. But neither would living in a small studio on my own and just passing in my sleep. Sorry if some people find this post unnerving but once we start nudging 70, even in these modern times when many people live healthily well into their 80s and 90s, it's not unusual to look at the future and say, hmmm, ...

  I am continuing to move my SparkPeople blog posts off their website before they disappear forever on August 17th. I came across this a blog post from July 14th 2011; answers to 50 questions. I thought it would be fun to see if my answers have changed in 10 years, so here goes. New answers are in italics: Thursday, July 14, 2011/ Saturday July 10, 2021 1. WERE YOU NAMED AFTER ANYONE?  No, my mother found my name in a baby book in the hospital. I was originally going to be called Laurie but then she got to V and decided that Valerie was prettier. I liked Laurie too--named my daughter that.  That story hasn't changed. It's funny that a few years ago, I discovered a distant cousin on my mother's father's side whose name is Valorie. She's 12 years older than I am though. 2. WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME YOU CRIED?  A few tears last night but a good gulping cry--a few months ago I think. I usually cry at sentimental movies like Affair to Remember or Incredible Journey (the...

  I have been a member of a health and fitness website, SparkPeople, for thirteen years. It was a great website and one thing that I wrote in quite a bit was a food/wellness blog. Over the years, I managed to lose about 20 pounds and keep them off for several years. Unfortunately, over the past few years, I grew lackadaisical about posting on SparkPeople and about tracking calories. As a result, not only did I gain back those 20 pounds but also 10 more. Yep, I have about 30 pounds to lose to get to what I consider a healthy weight. But the sad news is that SparkPeople is closing next month. And all of my records will disappear too. I have spent the past couple of weeks copying over my SparkPeople blogs, starting in 2008. It's been QUITE the reminder!! I look at this photo from 2009, when I was actually about four pounds below goal weight: I don't have a recent photo of me, but I certainly don't look like that! Some people would say, well of course not, that's 12 year...

  Well May is over, such an up-and-down month for me historically. Birthday month for me and my mom, Mother’s Day, but also the month in which my sister died in 1990. As well, it's the month that I made my first “nomad journey” in 1978, moving from Montreal to England, my life turning so completely around over the two and a half years I lived there, with my pregnancy, having Laurie, making memories of living in other places than "home," in fact, continuing the journey that had begun with my mother's death, that "home" is something that is very illusory. That said, I will never regret making that decision in 1978, my whole subsequent life has evolved from that decision. I was listening to a podcast with Light Watkins, an interesting man who has become a “nomad,” thus my reference above to my nomad journey. A few years ago he decided to sell or give away everything he had and go down to living life with a backpack and a carry-on bag. (Apparently lately he’s no...

  The beginning of 2021 hasn't been the great release from 2020 that I had hoped it would be. The big issue for me--when can I travel again--is still up in the air. Knowing how many people have much more important issues that they are grappling with, I feel guilty that that is "all" I have to worry about. And of course it isn't "all"--I have approached my job with the school district with the same fervor I approached jobs before I retired. I have discovered I don't have the mental energy for that kind of effort; it has exhausted me, depressed me and I feel that I can't wait for the end of the school while still feeling guilty (there's that word again) that I didn't do a calmer job of it. Still, since I don't have the ability to solve the school district's problems, or cure the pandemic, or solve the border crisis, or even achieve a modicum of peace and contentment in my own corner of the world, I focus on lack of travel. Thus, when I ...

The recent news in London about Sarah Everard, the young woman who was murdered on her walk home has brought back memories of an experience I had one night in Toronto, 48 years ago. It's odd that I should think of it now, I who reads and watches so many crime thrillers. Why is it this that has spurred me to write about my experience when for years it's been tucked away in my memory? When I have watched so many shows about women (and men) being stalked and murdered? Perhaps by the end of this post I will know. I was a 20 year old college student, living for the first time away from home. I shared an apartment with a good friend, a bus ride away from campus. My friend hitchhiked around Toronto quite a bit but I had never been brave enough to try it. Until one autumn night, when I was on my way (ironically) to my first self-defense class and I missed the bus. There wouldn't be another one for an hour, so I decided I would stick my thumb out. I was almost regretting doing it...