Have you been able to enjoy the outdoors in whatever way you prefer?
Have you taken at least a little bit of time to rest and rejuvinate?
My answers to these questions would be thus:
Fantastic. Busy, but I hate that word because it connotes that I’m in some way special, important, “above it all”. Let’s just say that my social calendar is fuller than usual these days. This is not a complaint. Nor is it a “brag”.
Spending time outdoors for me this summer has been hit and miss. Largely because of all the rain we’ve been getting here in Minnesconsin. But today is Sunday and we’ve got a lovely family get-together planned at my in-laws on this sunny, blue-sky, calm wind day so outdoor time with the people I love so much is happening.
I’m going to do something a little weird here and pause my train of thought for a musical interlude. This is a wonderfully written and very 60’s groove-ily performed piece of music, IMHO.
I wouldn’t say that I’ve taken much time to rest and rejuvinate this summer. Again, not a complaint nor a “brag”. But, I would add the word “yet” to my answer. Mr. NOA thankfully has completed a years-long work project as of last week and he’s taken several days off starting this month and through the end of September. For this, I am grateful. It means that personal rest and relaxation are on the horizon for me, as the Mr. will be free to pick up a bit more slack (of the household variety) as well as occupy himself with outdoor projects.
One thing I’ve been focusing more on these days is photography. Though, I feel that calling it “photography” is a bit much. It’s just me using the camera on my cell phone every now and again. For no great reason, I often neglect to take pictures of family and friends (as well as me and Mr. NOA), amidst our gatherings, but I have been enjoying taking pictures of my environment.
Here’s a few:
I wish you all the best vibes on this beautiful Sunday!
Speaking of beautiful vibes, here’s a song that, to me, embodies them like few others do.
This past Sunday morning, as I was spewing out my thoughts and feelings into my personal draft folder, I caught a glimpse of the most precious thing.
Or, to be more exact, the most precious furry being there ever was: our good boy, Radar.
This is what I wrote:
I just got distracted by Radar. Normally the distraction is in the form of an unanticpated barking session. But this one is sublime. He’s curled up and sleeping next to the front door. Basking in the square of sunlight that landed on the green carpet he’s laying on. With his front paws beneath his head, and his right paw laying atop one of his most favorite toys. That tough navy and bright green wheel thing he got in his monthly Bark Box.
I resisted my usual temptation of grabbing my phone and snapping a picture. I decided it was unnecessary; and besides, the chances that he’d still be there in that exact position by the time I was ready to snap one were slim to none.
I did get this one a bit later in the day, however, as he was laying on the floor as Mr. None of the Above and I watched the Vikings vs. Packers game.
Look at the gorgeous mane!
Here’s one in which he’s wearing his “day of the dead” bandana while sharing the love seat with me and his favorite afghan, which was made by my mom.
Ain’t he a beaut?
Back to the Bark Box subscription. We signed up for it back when we lived in Colorado. When we moved to Minnesconsin in 2022, I re-started it. Not at all making any note whatsoever on my calendar so I could consider if it ought to continue after six months. So of course, that date came and went and I noticed a charge on our bank account for another six months. Radar had accumulated so many “tough chewer” toys via this subscription, but here it was already paid for. So we’ve been periodically sharing the treats and toys with other doggie friends because we simply don’t have the room for so much!
You should see this dog when the monthly Bark Box comes. He knows what it is when he sees it. He pounces, barks, wagging his tail as he expresses his jubilation. I have this little fantasy in my head that one day he’s going to manage to open it up all by himself, you know, after he grows thumbs, but for now I unseal it, then set it down on the floor for him to finish. It is the most hilarious thing ever and I’ve captured it on video but am not sure it’s good enough to share in this space.
I’m just so darn grateful for this goofy pooch of ours.
My new reality began yesterday, as I’m back in the workplace after a sweet hiatus (aka Gap Year). I prepped myself ahead of time for a few days by setting my alarm for earlier and getting my butt in gear within a more reasonable amount of time. My closet has been over-hauled as a new job means work appropriate clothes needed to be excavated.
I get to wear my nicer clothes again! One of the simple things to be grateful for.
I think this job is going to suit me very well. My new co-workers welcomed me with open arms. I was given a new magnetic name tag which made it more real. I’m excited to go back tomorrow!
Fall doesn’t “officially” begin until September 23rd. Yet, with the leaves beginning to morph from green to gold and reddish hues here, along with starting my new job, it is starting to feel like fall to me.
All of the time I got to hang out with family, friends, and neighbors these past few months made for a great summer.
I’ve been aiming to include more photos in these blog posts. Due to struggles with getting our internet to comply with my frequent “save to drive” attempts, I don’t have as many photos as I’d like for sharing. Just a little downside to this country/lake lifestyle. But here’s a few showing the highlights from our first full summer here in Minnesconsin.
My Splashing Strawberry from a “Sip and Paint” experience at Dragonfly Winery
Mr. “None of the Above” (formerly known in this space as “Hubs”) and me riding the bus to the Minnesota State Fair
Weird Barbie at the Minnesota State Fair
View of our lake on our maiden voyage with the new pontoon
Five frightened baby raccoons climbing a tree in our backyard
Floating and Motorboating with the fam, Labor Day weekend 2023 (Jimmy Buffet was on repeat all day) #RIPJimmy
My daughter and I will be meeting up with my sister and one of our cousins next weekend to visit family in central Minnesota. We’ll be staying overnight at our uncle Jim’s cabin. This has been an annual trip for my sister and cousin. Every single year, as we were always living too far away, I was envious of them for getting to go. No more!
There’s other things happening in these parts over the next several weeks as well. Namely, a couple of fall festivals to check out. I’m looking forward to enjoying these with my family and neighborhood friends.
A few blog posts ago, I mentioned that I was making a list of all of the local places I want to check out here in Minnesconsin. I got a good start on that list and intend to get cracking on it ASAP. Cross your fingers that I will be able to capture great pics and memories to enjoy and share in future posts!
And now, I present to you my favorite, well one of my favorites, Jimmy Buffet songs.
It’s now 2/28/23 and I’m realizing this is a post I could publish now. It captured a specific moment in time for me. I wrote it and never published it. I was newly unemployed and planning our move back home.
In other words, I’ve been taking some time today to review all my draft folders. I’m cleaning this digital joint up.
Originally written by me on 4/22/22 and seeing the light just today, these were the 8 things I noticed then:
I noticed that my grandson has a beautiful singing voice. Song choice was a sweet surprise: “Close to You” by the Carpenters.
Spending time on Twitter can be quite fun. Different but in a good way, from Facebook. Too bad it’s getting overtaken by an oligarch.
That my daughter parents differently (and in a lot of important ways, better) than me when she and her sibling were young.
My house is in disarray.
That we have (had) far too many photos. Sure, there were plenty of precious ones I had to keep (to eventually scan so everything that isn’t in a frame is digitized). But these were photos taken back in the day when you had to put actual film in a camera. And you had no way to see them until you had them developed. In a lab. And half the time there were months between shots so when you dropped off your film, you thought there’d be a chance that there’d be some good ones in there. So you’d want to keep one for yourself and share with someone else, so you checked the box to have 2 copies of each picture. Then you’d get them back like 10 days later only to find out a mere 6 out of the 24 pictures on the film were sort of decent but the rest would be blurry shots of the sky with a smidge of your brother’s eyebrow in the corner.
I naturally want to go to sleep for the night later and get up later now that I’m not working.
I only have three good bras. That is it. And they are all the same style and size. Just different colors.
Almost every show that I absolutely loved but had long ass breaks since the last season due to Covid-19, are all coming back with new seasons right now. Simultaneously. When, ironically, I’m unable to binge any of them at the moment. I’ve got too many other things to do with the big move to Wisconsin coming in less than 3 weeks.
Thank you friends, for reading my share here today. We’ll see if I find any more.
Now, back to editing……
But just one last thing.
An example of a pic taken in the 80’s that we had to pay for someone to develop and wait for days to get from the pharmacy.
Yep, that’s me. Circa 1985 in my MN state university dorm room.
I started writing this post on Labor Day. I decided to “labor” at home. Doing just-for-me creative pursuits. I started with updating my vision board. I’ve tons of magazines around here collecting dust and taking up space to be used on this project.
Primarily I found phrases that speak to me (“let curiosity lead” is my new favorite), but no visual depictions of any specific, tangible, thing that I want to manifest. I’ll probably need to hit a thrift store soon to complete my current iteration of this vision board.
I did find some articles in these old magazines that I missed on my first go ’round with them. I will read those this week, before toss them into our recycling bin.
Hubs and I got back from our summer vacation last Wednesday night. It was a long-ass road trip to Minnesota with our camper. We normally go up there to see family and friends in July; this year, however, we went in late August so we could attend the nuptials of my nephew and his gal.
All went well, though Hubs is still quite sore from doing all the driving. Those sweet kids got married (under a tent during a downpour). We spent quality time on the way visiting his parents and sister in Wisconsin, having dinner with our best friends farther north, and lunch with my beautiful niece and her family on our way through Nebraska.
I didn’t want to come home, to be honest. Not just because I wanted more time with family, but because of the beauty and serenity I find at my sister and brother in-laws place. I wanted more of it. Maybe next summer, we’ll fly there so we can spend more time with them in this instead of sitting in the truck. Better yet, we’ll take the camper but extend our vacation by another few days.
Here’s what I’m talking about:
The best place in the world to decompressYou can see the Baptism River more clearly in this one.
This is merely a test. A test of my ability to use my scant photography skills to tell a story.
One of my personal blogging goals is to improve my photography skills. Truly.
So, here I go!
Top left: a picture of our present day, imperfect, life. As you can surmise, no acrobatic moves were employed to capture this scene.
You see my very plain, cheap looking kitchen countertops (which someday before long will be replaced with something that actually looks cool). There’s the bunch of lavender I bought because I was at a Lavender Festival a couple of weeks ago with my best Colorado friend, Adrianne, and it seemed like the thing to do. My original intention was to google what to actually do with this lavender; I overhead the lavender selling lady at the booth where I purchased this telling another customer about hanging it upside down and waiting for the oil to drip off of it. But I ended up getting distracted by life, per my usual, and 14 days (give or take) later the bunch of lavender remains on the top shelf of my kitchen counter. I guess I’ll have to toss it soon, but I certainly am up for suggestions if you have any.
Speaking of the Lavender Festival, Adrianne and I had a very relaxing time chatting and listening to tunes on the way home. I shared with her my new favorite summer song.
Adrianne informed me that this particular song was actually a cover of “Doin’ Time” by Sublime, which came out in 1996, so of course we listened to that version as well. I would have known about Sublime’s version of this tune had I not been busy mothering my spawn, who were 3 and 4 at the time. The genre of music I listened to at that time was “new country”. It was a phase of mine that thankfully passed.
What’s in the orange bowl? It’s a “rustic” bread salad, a recipe that came highly recommended by my beloved sister, which was surprisingly not a hit. But more than likely, I used the wrong kind of salad dressing. Then there’s the half pint of vodka, which has become our go-to liquor (on those days when we are craft-beered-out) along with the Mio stuff that you add to said vodka for flavor (another suggestion by my sis, though this one was enjoyed much more than the bread salad thingy).
In the brown bag, there was a delectable cinnamon roll that I scarfed down the morning after taking this picture. It was purchased at the Farmer’s Market closest to me. Someone’s got to support small businesses-bakeries included, right? It would have been rude to do otherwise.
Then there’s a selfie taken in our “en suite” (‘scuse me, I’m feeling fancy and I’ve probably consumed too much HGTV). In case you were wondering, this pic is very much not inspired by a Kardashian.
Then there’s the picture from ye olden times (resting atop my sister’s much nicer looking kitchen countertops), featuring my Grandma Pearl (one of two, not sure if I’ve ever mentioned this) as a child with her wacky hairdo. Youngest spawn has a mass of thick hair with a number of cowlicks.
Check out that tongue! You got some competition Gene Simmons!
Of course, being the obnoxious human that I am, I texted the photo to alert them that their hair is indeed genetic.
So for the actual beautiful pictures: the skies at my sister and brother in law’s place (aka my happiest place to be) in far northern Minnesota, when we were there last month visiting the fam. These pics capture the moments when we were sitting around the campfire, shooting the shit on a warm July night.
Then there’s the two pics of Hubs and I enjoying our first experience at Red Rocks. In the middle bottom pic, we are tailgaiting in the parking lot prior to the show. Good times.
The pic next to that is of my new pedicure. One of my self-care “quirks” is that my feet need to look nice and pretty at all times. I don’t know where this comes from. Probably because sandals are my very favorite type of footwear and I don’t believe in showcasing them on gnarly looking feet (or seeing others showcasing their gnarly looking feet in sandals for that matter). I love that the nail lady (there’s a proper term for this, right? Technician perhaps?) offered to add a flowery design on my big toes. She did it free hand, using three different colors. I found this quite impressive. I’ll be back to see her again for sure.
Me with Ray-darling. Yes, I’ve become one of those people who shops online for fun bandanas for my dog to wear.
I invite each of you to share your imperfect, weird, real-life photos that tell a story about what you’ve been up to this summer.
Pollyanna's Path 