Walking to stay healthy!

I told my husband today that when they reopen the Florida Trails, I'm going EVERY day! I love getting out in nature and really miss it. I know I shouldn't complain when I have a nice place to walk in my neighborhood.

I keep telling myself I have no reason to complain at all.

We have a beautiful place to live and our weather has been good.

And as long as we are well and our family members and friends (thank God) are well, I shouldn't complain.

But we can't help but have days when we feel melancholy and sad. 

It's terrible to see the pandemic take such a heavy toll around the world. 

We continue to pray for everyone. How are you doing this week?

That's a walk over to the neighborhood pond. I hope you've enjoyed it. Sending you all hugs from Florida.

Stay safe and healthy and thankful.

I’m joining Thankful Thursdays and

I like Thursdays HERE too!

I'm thankful!

I'm thankful I have hair and I'm glad it's straight with all the humidity we have here in Florida!

 (A sketch from my sketchbook)

But I've been having a bad hair YEAR! The lady that always cuts my hair cut it WAY too short earlier this year! It took forever to get it to grow out. I went back and she did it again! This time I went over 2 months before I got it cut. 

So I decided to go to someone new.  I guess I emphasized that I didn't want it cut too short and this time, it doesn't look like I got a hair cut at all! I actually got my scissors out this morning and cut a little of it. (I HATE to do that!!!)

But it was funny yesterday when she handed me the mirror to look at the back! The mirror had my name on it! How special is that! lol

I tried to get a pic of the back of it so you can see. It does look good....just not short! 

 I am still sketching so here's what I lightly sketched in last night! 

It's nice to be able to complain about it here because I sure need to 'get over it' and get on with other things. Life's too short to worry about whether your hair is short! haha!

And life's too short to struggle with getting a paper bowl out of the cabinet. Hubby uses a paper bowl when he has a dessert in the evenings. And he got tired of trying to get one out of the 'stuck together' stack! So when I opened the cabinet it looked like an explosion of paper bowls! Don't worry...it was just for fun! They are back in a neat stack now!

Hubby found the deepest darkest purple Vincas for our pots in the courtyard!

 Aren't they beautiful!

What are you thankful for today?

I’m joining Thankful Thursdays .

 

Good Fences, Good Neighbors and Good Bye!

Good bye? oh no no no!!!

But I will have to say, ‘see ya later’!

We made some adjustments on our trip to the mountains this year which meant limited internet. We didn’t realize how limited it would be until we tried it! Now I realize I can’t really do the posts I want to do or visit and comment. And I consider my blog buddies my good neighbors so I’ll miss you all. It will only be for a couple of weeks though so don’t forget about me! lol

Of course there are always advantages to staying off the computer. I’ve read 4 books and taken 4 hikes already. (and probably watched 4 old movies)

I’m joining Tex for the

Good Fences party.

(all of these are ‘fair fences’)

Have a wonderful September!  

See you next month!

Same time, same place!

Keeping me Company in the Lanai

I’m still having to take it easy and rest.

If you missed it, my ‘pitiful pearl’ post was HERE.

I think I’m going through the ‘feeling sorry for myself’ phase of healing.

But look who’s in the lanai with me.

Meet Trixie!

I got this sweet doll from my friend, Maxie a couple of weeks ago. Her Etsy shop Prims and Annies is HERE.

And isn’t she smart?

She can already read.

 

(she prefers vintage Winnie the Pooh books)

And we both have played Gummy drop a ‘few times’ this week.

How can you feel bad when you look at this big smile.

I’ll have to wait to smile that big though.

My face needs to heal some more.

I’m joining the Vintage Inspiration Link party HERE,

and Roses of Inspiration.

It could have been worse….

It started out beautifully!

We drove to Canaveral National Seashore to spend the day and it was ‘picture perfect’!

This is one of the first photos I took.

And this is the last one on my camera for the day.

We spent 4 hours on the beach in the bright sun, walking for at least half of that time.

So when we were driving home and the clock said 5:30 pm, we knew we needed to stop and get our afternoon snacks out of the cooler because we were still an hour or more away from home.

We stopped at a beautiful park with the St. John’s river running alongside and while hubby got the snacks out, I went to the bathroom.

Walking back, I was tired from all the walking at the beach.

I still had my beach flip flops on.

My blood sugar was low and I needed to eat.

And I was distracted looking out at the river and didn’t pay attention to what I was walking on.

The sidewalk was buckled and uneven…

and I tripped.

When I stubbed the toe of my shoe, I took 2 long strides with my arms straight out. My body was trying to balance itself. But it couldn’t. And I took a swan dive…face first into the rough concrete sidewalk.

My right cheekbone and jaw took the brunt of the fall and blood started gushing. I’ve never seen so much blood come out of my nose and mouth ever.

And now we get to the good part. You know with my positive attitude there will be a good ending.

A beautiful lady named Emilia, her son and granddaughter, Tia ran over to help me. Emilia called 911 and she stayed with me the entire time. Her son rushed to get my scared hubby and then hubby stayed busy running back and forth to the bathroom to rinse the blood out of towels, get water, move the car closer, etc.

The EMS people came and they were great too.

I am battered and bruised today and I’ll be eating soft foods for awhile but nothing is broken.

My face looks like I was in a bad fight that I lost

and I have bruises up and down my right side…

hand, arm, hip, leg.

Please pray that I will heal completely. And when you say a prayer for me, ask God for an extra blessing for Emilia and her sweet family. I don’t know how I could have done it waiting for the EMS without her by my side, helping and encouraging me. A sweet Hispanic lady that took the time to care and be a loving Christian to a stranger.

Accidents happen.

I always think of the movie, ‘Love Comes Softly’ and how he describes how God works in our lives. He comforts us when we are hurt. I rode home with 2 ice packs on my face and a towel wrapped around my head. But we made it home finally at 7:30 pm. I bathed and drank chicken broth and slept on my left side all night.

It could have been worse.

I’m very thankful.

I’m a Spokesperson for TEVA!!!

Not really! But I COULD be!

I was in Texas 15 years ago when my son, D showed me the TEVAs he was wearing. He thought I might like some so off we went to shop for a comfortable sandal that I could wear anywhere.

And the rest as they say…

is history!!!

TEVAs have enough support to wear for hours. They are always my choice for a hike on ‘clean trails’ and a must for shopping. Easy to take off and you can rinse them off to clean.

Your foot works into the rubber type surface just enough for comfort and support and the adjustable straps let you ‘snug them up’ to give you the feel of more of a shoe than a sandal.

So why am I telling you all this?

I finally walked mine to death.

BOO HOO!

My favorite TEVAs…my very first pair that are a perfect shade of denim blue ‘bit the dust’ yesterday while walking for over an hour at Manatee Springs State Park.

They are ‘cracked up’ now.

BOO HOO!! (oh I said that already)

Do I have another pair? Well, of course I do. I sure couldn’t risk loosing my Teva tan.

But they aren’t a pretty shade of bluebonnet blue.

But they will have to do.

Boo hoo.

Things that make you feel better when you are sick…

Lots of well wishes and prayers help!

Thank you all!

(my soft fleece throw and a new bottle of cough syrup)

And a special thanks to Lorrie from Fabric Paper Thread who took the time to explain about her ‘rice bag’. She’s been sick too and mentioned having one. So I wrote and asked her what it was and if I needed one. After hubby went to the store for groceries (and a 2# bag of rice) I made one.

I made the rice bag out of cotton fabric and then made a cover out of soft flannel.

I kept enough rice out to make 2 packets with essential oils, one peppermint and one lavender.

After a hot bath and a small dose of cough syrup, I heated the rice bag in the microwave with a cup of water for 2 1/2 minutes. Then I jumped fell into bed and put it on my chest. It warmed me and calmed my cough. I had the best night’s sleep in almost 2 weeks! Thank you so much Lorrie.

It always amazes me how many times I’ve been helped by another blogger. I’m so thankful for each and every one of you.

So I think I’ve sunk to a new low in my Mosaic this week. But at least I managed a post. I feel a little better every day. I hope all of you are well and warm and safe from the latest winter storm.

I’m joining Beautiful Sunday and

Lavender Cottage for Mosaic Monday.

Have a wonderful day!

The Book I read…and the one I didn’t.

This is one of the best books I’ve read in a long time. And a very easy read.

It’s A Man Called Ove

by Fredrik Backman.

I know someone did a review on their blog but I don’t remember who. Please let me know if it was you! Because of the blog review, I requested the book from the library and read it this week! It’s amazing and I would recommend it to anyone and everyone! It has a high rating on Goodreads and I gave it the highest!

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak also has high ratings and I bought it at a book sale last weekend. But I’ve decided not to read it. Not right now anyway.

I love going on Goodreads and reading the reviews left by my friends. It helped me decide whether to read The Book Thief right now or wait. I’ll wait.

Right now I’m reading a good old faithful, Maisie Dobbs mystery, Leaving Everything Most Loved by Jacqueline Winspear. It’s so very good…

and I’m so very sick. Please keep me in your prayers. I thought I had allergies from the pollen but it has developed into fever and chills, coughs and congestion, headaches and general misery. (just ask my hubby, lol)

 

Luckily I have this medical book to refer to. I bought it at the thrift store awhile back for a quarter and guess what?

It still has the bandaids!

I’m joining Beautiful Sunday and

Lavender Cottage for Mosaic Monday.

Have you read a good book lately? One that you’ve given 5 stars? Have you read the books I mentioned?

The Three C’s…CAUTION in Capital Letters!

Caution, Candles and Colored Lights!

No the candle wasn’t lit.

And I’ve used these colored lights in this wicker basket for years now.

(an old photo of it lit up at night)

But when I brought it to Florida a couple of weeks ago, I put a Fall scented votive candle inside to make it smell even nicer.

(this is with the lights AND candle pulled out)

The colored lights got hot and MELTED the candle.

And this is what the carpet looked like under the basket.

What a mess. But the good news?

It could have been a WHOLE LOT worse! I have silk leaves inside the basket, too and the candles could have ignited the whole thing!

Hubby didn’t like the strong scent of the candle so I reached inside to take it out and that’s when I discovered, a light bulb was on top of the candle and it was a melting mess!

We’ve worked on cleaning the carpet and it looks a lot better now! The pumpkin is in the kitchen now and I’m not sure WHERE the lights are! lol

WHEW! And that’s the cautionary tale I wanted to share! The 3 C’s!

 

It’s not our ‘Beary Best Day’!

We fluffed up the purple pillows on my bed to take it easy today.

Baby Bear and I don’t feel ‘beary’ good!

And it’s actually nice not to have a bright sunny day today but clouds and a few sprinkles with nice temps.

 

I shouldn’t complain, I have a nice stack of library books and we bought groceries and even walked at the park just before I started feeling bad.

I’m sipping citrus and spice tea from my new tea cup (thanks Ruth!!!) and snacking on cinnamon toast.

I even have this new pillow to look at from my bed if I need to rest. (found at Hospice Thrift Store)

This was something Ria from It’s Me blog posted for the new year.

Isn’t it perfect?

I’ll visit as soon as I feel a little better.

I’m writing this on Thursday to publish on Friday so I am SURE I am all better now!

How are you today?