Embracing My Introversion At The B

I struggled for many years before coming to terms with and understanding my introversion.  There are many misconception about introverts out there.  The biggest one being "Introverts are unhappy".  It's quite the contrary.  I'm at one of the happiest times of my life right now and part of that is understanding what brings me happiness and re-energizes me....  Alone time, connecting with and appreciating nature, spending meaningful time with my loved ones, being creative whether it's some form of art or photography, writing, being in tune with my senses.  Something as simple as spraying my pillow with lavender spray each night and physically allowing myself to be aware of the calm it brings me.  So many years of my life were spent overlooking or even understanding how important something as minor as that can be.  How different my life is in my fifties from even just a few years ago.  I am beyond thankful everyday for where I'm at.  

Every year Craig and I go to Florida, usually sometime in February, to visit his parents and get away from the cold.  Since my "retirement" my schedule is much more flexible and an opportunity arose to spend more time in Florida this year.  Craig's parents had a cruise planned so I asked them if they minded if I could have use of their car and house while they were gone.  I've never had a vacation all to myself and the thought of a week of solitude excited me tremendously.  It also gave me the opportunity to spend an extended amount of time at Circle B (the nature preserve I love so dearly).  I would go down a few weeks before Craig and he would join me the last week I was here. 

I've been visiting Circle B daily, sometimes twice a day.  I've gone on guided tours of the preserve, explored eagle nests, hiked miles and miles everyday, had an encounter with a bobcat, listened to the owls calling "who cooks for you", listened to the alligators bellowing which makes you feel like you are in a scene from Jurassic Park, talked to other photographers along the trails who share exciting things they've seen that day.  It's nesting season for the birds so the blue herons are building nests and doing their mating dances.  Baby birds are starting to peek over nests. I watch osprey's fly over the lake and swoop down to catch a fish then land in the trees to eat. 

Everyone is so happy to be out there and will eagerly carry on conversations with you.  Newbies always have many questions.  I met a family who had heavy English accents and the kids excitedly told me they had counted 21 alligators so far.  Many people have photography/camera questions if they see you are carrying a nice camera.  Others want to know the best trails to take. 

I was told that US and World News rates Circle B as one of the top 50 places in the WORLD to view wildlife.  I have to agree. 

              

Morning Calm

I'm not one to sleep in or lay in bed in the morning.  It's a much too precious time of day to waste away.  We got a beautiful layer of new snow yesterday and throughout the night.  Still in my pj's I bundle up to take Olive outside. It's 6 degrees so I know Olive will not last long.  I grab my phone so I can snap a few photos.  Olive does a few laps around the yard, does her business and then hangs at the gate begging to come back indoors.  I'd like to stay outside a few more minutes but Olive guilt's me into heading back inside.  I'll enjoy the snow from inside today. 

Do you take time throughout your day to be good to yourself and be grateful?  I'm a firm believer in this!  Mornings are my absolute favorite time of day and a favorite time to reflect and enjoy little things.  Today it was a fat slice of my Dad's homemade bread drizzled with lavender honey from Lavender Hill Farm in Niles, a fresh orange that my aunt ships up each year from Florida, and coconut tea.  I sit here thinking about how good this bread it, knowing my Dad baked this in his Dutch oven and the honey reminds me of my visit to an incredibly beautiful lavender farm this past summer.  The orange makes me excited to visit Florida in a few weeks and I make a mental note to visit an orange farm this year while I'm there. What better way to start my day!

I read an article on FB this morning rating the worst winter states in the US.  Michigan ranked #2, even above Alaska!  This is the second winter that I have had the luxury of not having to drive to work anymore.  But for 30 plus years it was terrifying for me.  I literally had an immobilizing fear of driving that 50 miles round trip to work in winter weather.  It's so much easier for me now.  If we are getting a winter blast I just sit back, enjoy my tea and the view outside my windows.  It really is beautiful when you no longer have to be terrified of it.  I'm also extremely grateful that both of my kids and my hubby have very short drives to work. Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow! 

I hope you have time to slow down and pamper yourself, even if it's something as simple as a slice of bread with honey. 

         

50 Things I Love

Maybe this blog post will help you get to know me or you might learn something new about me.  Here we go.....

1. Road trips.  I'm like a dog...put me in the Jeep, take me down country dirt roads and let me hang my head out the window.

2. The mountains. 

3. Nature/the outdoors.

4. Tea, hot or iced.  Currently my favorite is loose leaf coconut pineapple. YUM!

5. Cool fall weather.

6. Kombucha! In case you don't know what Kombucha is it's fermented tea. 

7. Camping, tent or travel trailer. Rediscovered my love of tent camping this past summer.

9. My Grand Dog Winnie.

10. Having lunch or coffee in quaint little cafe's. 

11. Spending time along.... yes, I'm an introvert. 

12.  A walk in the woods.  Give me the woods over the beach any day!

13. Trees!!  It's a wonder I don't drive off the road the way I gawk at trees constantly.

14. Circle B Bar... one of my favorite places on earth (nature preserve in Florida).

15. National Parks.... what treasures they are!

16. State Parks.... just as precious as the national parks.

17. Photography.

18. Children's books....  You should see my collection of children's books!

19. Kayaking.  Haven't touched my kayak in the past two years.... I'm ashamed to say.

20. Birds.... Oh how I love birds. 

21. The USA.  I've never had the urge to travel the world but boy do I yearn to explore more of this beautiful country we live in. 

22. Hiking/Exploring. 

23. Lavender.  I don't just love it, it's an obsession.  The smell, the taste, the feel, the color, the bees buzzing around it.  Oh yes, please!

24. Free Little Libraries.  It's on my bucket list to set my own up one day.  I will do it!

25. Grapefruit and turkey bacon (my favorite breakfast).

26. Dimaggio's Pizza.  I request it every year for my birthday.

27. Rain.

28. Blogging. 

29. PJ's.... if I could live in my pj's I would.  I'm all about comfort.

30. Flip flops.

31. Oil of Olay Regenerist Serum... it's the only beauty product I can't live without.

32. Homemade soaps.

33. Farmer's Markets.... Can't wait for them to start in the summer and I'm always sad when the season is over. 

34. Flea Market's.  Wish we had some good ones around us.

35.  Thrift stores.... I'm a thrifting junkie.  I will frequently go on all day thrifting excursions. It's the trill of the hunt!

36. Mowing the lawn.

37. Big Bang... Sheldon, Amy and the whole gang make me laugh.

38. True war movies. 

39. Lighthouses. 

40. Veggies.... I don't think there's a veggie I don't love.

41. Aldi's... why would anyone grocery shop anywhere else?  $$$

42. Wildflowers.

43. Old barns... I can hardly pass an old huge historic barn without stopping to photograph it.

44. Biggby Pomegranate Tea Latte's.  Good thing I no longer drive by Biggby's on my way to work anymore. 

45. Cooking... Love to cook but baking is not my thing.

46. Instagram.... Makes me so much happier than Facebook.

47. Warm fuzzy socks.... I once paid $35 for a pair of homemade alpaca wool socks from a farmer's market.  And if you know how cheap I am that should  tell you how much I love those socks!

48. True crime shows, like Dateline and 48 hours... this is much to my husbands displeasure  :-)

49. Rainbows... they are magical.

50. Sunsets, especially at Silver Lake.

Christmas 2016

For weeks Craig has been asking me what I wanted for Christmas.  I really wanted a new laptop MacBook.  My MacBook is about 10 years old and the operating system is so old that it will no longer accept updates and as a result I cannot open google or blog from it.  :-(   I even made a trip to the apple store to check out the new MacBook's.  I left there drooling over the new ones but feeling defeated after seeing the $2,000 price tag.  That was not going to happen.  We've worked too hard at simplifying our lives to allow that to happen.  So then I started researching pc laptops as an alternative.  UGH!  How could I EVER go back to a pc????  We are a Mac family all the way.  But the $300 price tags were so tempting.  So long story short.... here I am a few days after Christmas blogging on my new pc laptop.  Craig got me a Lenovo for under $300.  It's going to do the job and I'm thrilled to have it.  Yes, I still wish I had a MacBook.  This pc is cheap to the touch, the trackpad feels so suboptimal, the screen doesn't do my photos justice.  But I'm hanging in there and as each day goes by I'm learning to like it.  Good points.... I can travel with it, I can upload photos to it, I CAN BLOG with it.  I'm slowly personalizing it and setting it up to fit my needs.  Thank you to my wonderful hubby for wanting me to have things that make me happy.  I'm certainly happy to be blogging from the comfort of my lazy chair. 

And the kids got me a sewing machine for Christmas.  I was feeling the love!  I was shocked when I opened it.  I never asked for it or had a clue.  How did they know that I've been thinking about sewing again lately?  They know me well.  Let the creative juices flow!

But the best gift of all I get to receive every single day of the year..... This family!

Dog Day of Summer

It's July 11th and we are in the full swing of summer and drinking in every ounce we can get.  

Evening backyard fires are the best.  

 

I am still getting used to my new life not having to get up and hit the road at 7:30 AM and drag myself home at 6:00 PM only to start preparing for the next day to do it all over again.  Not a day goes by that I am not thankful with my whole being.  And each season of this new life brings new joy.  Summer is amazing!  The colors, the sights, the sounds are different with each one.  Summer is all about green, my favorite color.  I sit on the front porch in the mornings drinking my tea and I still can't get over how green the trees and the grass are.  I'm not taking anything for granted.  

 

Summer is obsessing about food!  And even more so for me that I'm trying to lose weight in anticipation of a trip to visit the national parks out west this fall.  I want to be physically fit to be able to do some hiking.  I joined Weight Watchers in June and am loving the results.  I'm down 15 pounds and going strong.  It takes time, a lot of planning, shopping and cooking to make this work.  Again, I'm so grateful to have to time to devote to this commitment I've made.  I picked a good time of year to do this with the bounty of awesome food that's available at farmer markets.  I hit the market on Saturday and Tuesdays.  I'm in love with farmer markets! 

 Father's Day weekend we were able to spend a few days at Silver Lake and all the kids joined us.  We were very happy they could be with us.  

Craig on Father's Day with his pride and joys.  

No camping trip to silver lake is complete without a visit to see Jeffery at Lewis Farm Market in New Era.  

We try to catch as many summer sunsets as possible.  This was 4th of July weekend at our cottage.  

What is it about toads?  He wasn't very happy about posing for a photo.  I couldn't resist.  

My newest summer obsession is lavender.  I can't get enough of it.  This was at Lavender Hill Farm in Niles Michigan.  I waited all year to visit when the lavender was in bloom.  

This was my pickings from the day.  I have it hanging in the shed drying.  I bought a few live plants and will be giving it a try at growing my own next year. 

 

Hope you are enjoying your summer as much as we are.   I have a visit from Jordan to look forward to this week.  

I get it now Mom

One of my Mother's many beautiful gardens

I had a bucket list of sorts when I left my nursing job last November and one of the things on that list was gardening.  I half heartily put it on my list.  Mostly because of my lack of enthusiasm with gardening my whole life.  I was almost afraid to put it on the list because I didn't really know if I truly had it in me to love gardening.  Was I just fooling myself all these years wishing I had time and energy to garden or was it just not in my blood?  I've always had a love and appreciation of beautiful gardens, especially my Mother's, but year after year I never lived up to the expectations I put on myself.  I'd end up feeling like a failure at the end of summer when my container gardens were all dried up, the few tomato plants I planted only produced one tomato, weeds would be taking over, the flat of flowers I bought ended up in the trash after 2 months of sitting there waiting to be planted (yes, I'm ashamed to admit that I really did that more than once).   And being the offspring of a gardener whose gardens look like something out of Better Homes and Gardens made me feel especially inadequate.  

Mom never judged me.  I think she looked on me with pity sometimes knowing that I yearned to be able to do what she did and God knows she tried to help me.  Bless her heart, she'd buy me plants and trees and bring them over to my house and even plant my planters some years.  She knew that my life was full with other life's priorities and she tried her best to help me to have a yard of pretty things.  She encouraged me the best she could never making me feel bad about the state of my gardens.  This has gone on for years.  

So here we are, my first official "spring" gardening season with my new found freedom and time to garden.  Do I have it in me?  Turns out there's a spark there that has turned into a flame and I'm even finding a full blown blaze is on the horizon.   I'm asking myself, "Where did this come from?".   

I've taken 3 different Jeep loads full of plants I've dug and split up from my Mom's gardens and brought them home and planted them where I've needed new things.  The greatest thing about having a  Mother who gardens, besides the fact that I get to enjoy her gardens, is the fact that I can go get pretty much whatever I want for FREE.  It's like having my own personal nursery all for the taking.  And as an added bonus it gives my Mom a lot of pleasure to share with me.  She loves being able to give me plants.  

More of my Mother's gardens 

Things I've never had tolerance for I'm actually finding pleasure in.   For instance, getting up in the morning and dousing myself with bug spray, throwing my hair back, putting on my mud boots, getting out there before the dew is gone and getting my pants wet and muddy, getting overheated and hungry but not wanting to stop to rest and eat, and having to strip myself naked in the laundry room and run up to the shower before I can even think of sitting down.  Who is this woman and where did she come from?  

And for no reason at all, except for the simple fact that it gives me pleasure, I find myself walking through my yard and gardens to see my progress and making plans for what's next. 

I will never have the gardens that my Mother has and they will always pale in comparison but it's a start and it's making me very happy.  Mom, I want you to know how thankful I am to you for passing along this gene, for gently encouraging me all these years. 

Mom in her garden 

My Mother has a stepping stone in her garden that reads "A garden is where the soul feels at home".  I get it now Mom......      

Earth Day 2016

Silver Lake, Mears MI 4/16/16

Today is Earth Day 2016.  I celebrate Earth Day everyday of the year.  And each year it has more meaning to me.  I often think back to my childhood and wish that I would have seen the world through my adult eyes and have had an appreciation of our big beautiful earth then like I do today.  There was always little parts of me that appreciated natural beauty but nothing like my adult self.  I can't remember yearning to see the first blooms on the cherry trees in spring, the first new fallen snow of winter, experiencing excitement of fall colors, or sunsets in summer when I was a child or young adult.  But oh my!  It is in my soul now.

For example.....  I was middle school age when my parents allowed me to fly to Washington State to visit my Uncle Dallas one summer for a few weeks.  I was over the top excited to be going on my first plane ride, to see my Uncle and Aunt and spend time with my cousins but it never dawned on me to be excited about visiting a part of the country I've never seen before.  I was going to be seeing the rocky mountains for the first time in my life (and I haven't seen them since) but it was all so taken for granted.  It will be so different today.  I'll be seeing those mountains this fall and I cannot tell you how excited I am or how highly anticipated that trip is, so different from my 12 year old mind.   

Spring blossoms Michigan 4-18-16

We are in full blown spring now.  I can't drive anywhere without gawking at all the trees and flowers. I'm waiting for road side stands and farmers markets to start any day now.  

Asparagus should be showing up about a week or so.  And morel mushroom should be popping up any minute.  And I'll be hanging my hummingbird feeders this weekend!  Yes, bring it on!