Looking Forward With Glee in Everyday Ramblings

I walked by this tree a few days ago and almost all the leaves are down. I took this last Sunday. The light has changed since then. It has a much more pewter winter look to it now. Yellow is the color of November for me. I know for many of you it is green. :) Ah spring.

We are getting breaks between the rainstorms, which is a most welcome blessing for getting things done. I think I am ready as I am going to get for serious full on weather.

New bright red warm coat that fits? Check Comfortable mid-calf waterproof boots? Check. Hat, gloves, warm scarves? Check. Shovel? Check. (Remember Shovelina?) She matches my new coat. Trek Poles and ice grabber shoe covers? (I went for aluminum poles, love them.)

The one thing I don’t have yet are waterproof pants. Nice for birding. The whole plan here (and I am a planner) is to prepare so that I can decrease my fretting time and increase my ability to deal with situations as they arise. Winter is not the same for people who don’t own cars as those who do. More forethought in provisioning is needed.

Everybody in the family is staying put for Thanksgiving and that is a blessing. We’ll see about Christmas.

Because I had such an odd childhood (and am temperamentally impractical), learning how to take care of myself and the cats might just be my major life accomplishment.

Both Mr. Finch and my brother (who is just 18 months older than me) were (and in my brother’s case) and still are pretty much incapable of practicality at all. They were and are both fine with work. Loyal and punctual but everything else!

Being a girl I didn’t get that luxury.

But when I was younger with my brother and then with Mr. Finch I have always had that inability to manage money or provision correctly or get medical care to compare myself to.

Now I am in the sandbox with the big kids. Folks with houses and kids and cars and… so many responsibilities.

Kes and Most Honorable have been extremely helpful in making my ability to live alone functional and healthy. I make so many better choices now then I used to. They help my brother too.

And every once in while they do something just extraordinary. Next June I turn 60 and they have found this wonderful rustic but at the same time totally comfortable two bedroom cabin on a beautiful bend of a river here in Oregon that is full of fish and surrounded by forest that is full of birds for us to stay in for three days for my birthday and the end of the school term and the summer solstice.

It even has a bathtub.

I am so excited. We’ll split the cost and I am fine with that. It will probably be wet, it often is here in June but it is an all year all weather cabin and we’ll have fun no matter what the weather is like.

It is great to have this to look forward to through the long dark wet winter corridor.

I have discovered that there are all these contemporary exercise programs available by Jane Fonda for free if you have Amazon Prime. They are well done and I would highly recommend them. Jane Fonda: Prime Time - Fit & Strong. The DVDs are very inexpensive to buy. This particular series is geared towards older folks and I mean really, she’s had a knee and the opposite hip replaced so if she can do this stuff so can we. Just disregard all the plastic surgery and you’ll be fine. :)

Getting in enough activity to maintain my weight loss when it now gets dark at 5pm is my goal.

I’ve also ordered the DVDs for the Pure Barre program as well, which is clearly geared towards a much younger and more fit demographic. They do side plank in their warm ups. Oh my. In for it am I.