Skip to main content

Year Four, Day 311, Pandemic Times Day 60: "Stay Home - Stay Safe" Day 47: Forest Bathing! And Za'atar!

Dear Friends:

Happy Mother's Day to all the moms, stepmoms, foster moms, grandmas, aunts, caregivers, teachers, mentors....did I leave anyone out? If so, Happy Mother's Day to you too!

Mine was super! We ended up visiting my mother and father outside, practicing proper social distancing. We sat on lawn chairs, eating watermelon and listening to the birds sing. My granddaughter amused everyone by collecting pine cones and sticks. My mother and father live at end of a dead end street; their house backs up against a wild, forested area.

There have been sightings of coyote, rabbits, squirrels and many varieties of birds.  My mother swears she saw a cougar months ago. My son-in-law explored the backyard, and indeed found cougar evidence (aka droppings)!

It was a short, but lovely visit.

However, my parents' house is surrounded by much foliage.  My allergies came back with a vengence. So after our visit, I took the rest of the day off and took a much needed nap.

I felt groggy after my nap. It was quite warm and muggy today. The high was about 86 degrees.  It should cool off tomorrow - they are predicting high's in the upper 60's and possible thunderstorms!

But, despite the heat, I felt the need for another walk. I had a mile walk this morning in the park. But my daughter and her husband walk every evening. They told me their router is under 2 miles, and goes through a forested area, near a creek.

So, I set out on an adventure. And I am so happy I did!

47 days of quarantine. Only emerging for a daily walk in the park across the street, and an occasional grocery store run or visit to my parents.

I could have been walking in the forest!

Live and learn. Live and learn!
















I am in heaven!  Trees!  A lovely path! Solitude! And a bunny!




And a cool, peaceful, babbling brook!


I stopped down near the creek and did my journalistic vlog for today:


And then I headed home.  I tracked my route, and found it was 1.88 miles.  It took me 50 minutes, but that was with my break to visit with the bunny, and linger near the creek.

My new plan is to walk the dog every morning in the park. We do 1 mile or so. But it is interrupted with her bathroom duty. Then I will spend time with my granddaughter, cook, teach piano, and then go for my forest walk in the late afternoon.

Take that, pandemic! I'm not only surviving, I'm thriving!

And to put the frosting on the cake, my favorite spice to cook with of all time arrived via Amazon. It was waiting for me when I got home from my walk.

Za'atar - I could kiss you!  I plan on making manoushe tomorrow - on homemade keto flatbread. I'll let you know how it turns out.

But now, I must try and sleep.  I have so much life to live tomorrow!

I realize the virus is still raging.  I am praying for those affected.  I am praying for you, my reader. And the whole world.

Talk to you tomorrow.

Love,

Zita

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Year Three, Day 110: I Like Change, But How Do I Help the Suffering?

I woke up in a bit of a panic this morning. I had planned on getting to the track by 6:30 a.m., because I thought today was the first day of school. You see, the public is not allowed to use the track when school is in session. Understandably so. But alas, I overslept! I still headed out with my hoop, hoping it was before school hours at 7:30 a.m. And I breathed a sigh of relief. The school looked vacant. And only one solitary jogger with her solitary dog was present. I got busy in case the kids were due to arrive. Got a nice hoop workout in. No sign of children as I walked back to the house. So I did what I should have done in advance. I consulted Google. And most happy am I - North Clackamas School District does not start back to school until September 6th! Portland Public Schools start today. But the elementary school next door to the track lists "student hours" as 7:45 - 2:00 p.m. So I really am going to have to get an earlier start next week. I am aiming...

Year Two, Day 201: "I"

Before my first meeting with "I" I had a wonderful first date last night! We had a lot on common. The conversation flowed easily. We laughed. It was so lovely, that I think I shall not blog about him. Not yet anyway. I am just going to call him "I". I like I. 😉 Today was a long, wonderful family day. Went to church with my daughter and son-in-law. Very powerful, uplifting service. After that we went to the horse races. Had a blast. Broke even. Essentially had a free lunch and four hours of entertainment. After the horses, we had yet another Thanksgiving dinner at my niece's place. It was her first turkey. It was amazing! But thank God I had enough willpower to resist the pie! Tomorrow I go for my first physical therapy appointment. Tuesday it is back to the gym!! Happy Sunday!

Day 338: Unicorns in the Bible!

I am still working out the kinks in my daily routine. I am going to try practicing piano first today. I find I get so sidetracked that I don't get enough time in, and then I feel stress. I have quite a few performances coming up. Do not need stress!  So, my new daily plan will look something like this:  Wake up Pray Drink water and smoothie Piano practice Exercise Lunch Teach Read Bible and blog in between students Dinner Stretch Pray Bed My daughter and I food prepped last night. We made enough crockpot meals for our family of four for the next 2 to 3 weeks.  We put them in bags and tossed them in the freezer. We have turkey, veggie chili going on right now. Man, does the house smell good! My psalm of the day made me chuckle today. And got me curious about translations.  I read Psalm 29 in my King James Bible. Notice the appearance of the mythical unicorn in verse 6!   Psalm 29 1   Give unto the LORD, O ye mighty,  ...