In the Meantime... in Everyday Ramblings

It was foggy on our group hike yesterday morning. It was here in Portland and adjacent to other hikes I have done but all new to me. There was a lot of elevation gain as we went up to a park at the highest point in the city. There is a statue of a mother and child up there. A joyous moment captured in time.

In the 80’s someone came up and with hacksaws sawed it off across the main figure’s ankles and made off with it. It was found rusted under a tarp in a back yard across town in a drug raid 10 years later. They moved the base and reinstated the statue in a different place and we could see it but not much else in the fog.

It was a nice hike as it was a mix of sidewalk and trails and some very obscure staircases. Because we haven’t had anything like normal rainfall it was muddy but manageable on the trails. These folks go pretty fast, not speedy but also not slow enough to linger and take pictures of the amazing mansions we walked by.

All these fortunes made by exploiting natural resources. Mrs. Sherlock said on the way home that the hike convinced her that some people had too much money. There was much discussion about how much taxes were levied on these giant homes.

I found a sisterhood of 3 other women with hearing aids. We had a lively discussion about them that made me feel connected.

The guy who lives in his car is still in the hospital. He is on oxygen and they wanted to give him another day. Mrs. Sherlock had him make arrangements to have an Ostomy Nurse visit him a few times at their place. He seemed pretty confident he’ll be able to handle it all but I don’t think he realizes just how fragile he is.

You go through life managing things and you think it will always be that way but forces greater than us are so often at work. It has got to be so humbling.

I am making more cookies today; the molasses spice ones. I gave away most of the last of the potato chip cookies on the hike yesterday.

I want to do something with lemon to make up for the first unsuccessful batch and because I love lemon treats. So that will be next I think.

The hostess at the Christmas party Kes went to sent me a thank you note for the tin of cookies I sent over. That was unexpected and nice.

Yesterday after the hike I came home sweaty and a bit abuzz with social anxiety and I had this realization of the enormity of the change I have just made from being pretty much preoccupied on so many levels at work to not working. It is quite radical.

And overwhelming in some respects.

The only one in charge now, while I am active and healthy is me. And I am used to railing against the powers that be. Now I have all this agency.

May I use it well; to better the world I live in some small way every day.

In the meantime though I need to go line some cookie sheets with parchment paper. :)

Last updated December 28, 2019