Doggy Photo Shoot Day #48

“Look down quick and see – here’s my beautiful friend!” Sir Thomas tells me. “Yes,” I told him, “friends can be of any color, size, shape and can be totally different from you.” To that Thomas appeared to say, “I already know that!”

 

…thank you for visiting my blog…until next time 🙂

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Connect: A Beautiful Thing!

So many points to connect! And, so many points to dis-connect.

 

Thanks to the Mexican Walls of House of Women, San Francisco.  I took this photo while in San Francisco last year.  I made a connection that day.  Photo 101, day 6.

…thank you for visiting my blog…until next time 🙂

It’s Love Day… From, Sir Thomas

Good Valentine’s Day morning! I woke up to tell you that I LOVE YOU FOLKS, dearly. Now, go and have a good time because you are loved!” Sir Thomas’ wishes for us all 🙂

Every Morning I say…

“I will have a good day, today! Today, if something bad happens; I want to be able to process the bad in my mind; and I certainly want to find the good in it to move my life forward!”…This is my tip to me.  My mornings begin with this short phrase.  A short phrase, which, for sure, has an enormous impact on my day.  I’ve been doing this for a few years now.  This short phrase has now developed into a healthy habit in my life.

A bad thing happened here. All parties involved, thankfully, were fine. My daughter was shaken up. She was one of the parties involved. The accident happened four months ago. She still thinks about it and has become a more conscious driver. The bad in this has been processed. And, the good in this is that we are able to move forward in our lives. Lesson learned.

What do you say to yourself each morning before starting your day?

…thank you for visiting my blog…until next time 🙂

Encounters During My Daily Walks!

I encountered someone’s emotions today:

Today, a mom shared with me that her tall-handsome-20-year-old son revealed 2-days ago that he’s a gay.  I’m glad she thought she could share her thoughts and emotions with me.  We have never shared anything personal in the past.

…will keep sharing my thoughts and encounters from my walks with Sir Thomas.

…thank you for visiting my blog…until next time 🙂

 

Doggy Photo Shoot Day #24

“Sir Thomas, what do you see?” I’m asking him. Calmness in his expression is a recent behavior…an indication of his getting older…and, of course, wiser 🙂 (As a pup, everything was basically a trigger for chase-time)

Companionable to Honorific

“I’m so happy you are here,” I say to my Dad, gently kissing him on his cheek.  “I am too.  I am, too,” he replies reaching for his grand-kids.  My daughter hugs him tightly. She is 2 1/2-years-old; and my son, 9-months-old.  This is a penultimate to ‎ Honorific article which I wrote in July 2014.  He made many trips to see us, but this was a trip my dad made 16 years ago.  My kids are now, teenagers.

My daughter is standing up on an adjacent chair where my dad is sitting; her tiny body resting on my dad’s right shoulder. My dad is eating his breakfast.  She’s watching him intently; now poking his cheeks, touching his head; then pulling his scarce hair; and finally, wanting to play with his food.  She is trying to take his toast out of his hands.  He let’s her take it. She dunks it in his tea!  I react,  “No, No, No!”  My dad quickly comes to her defense, “Let her.”  I step aside.  I help my son eat his breakfast.

In focus, is my peripheral vision: The toast, all of it now, is drowned in his tea-cup.  She is attempting to scoop it out with a spoon, only to splatter the content all over the table.  I remain quiet.  She puts the spoon down, but does not give up!  She puts her fingers in the cup, and takes a bit of soggy toast out in her pincer grasp.  A success!  She feeds that to my dad.  YUCK!  He, lovingly, eats it.  Patience and love, that was my dad.  Once she was done, my dad gladly cleaned the mess.

Another beautiful sunny, warm, and breezy day.  I look out the dining room window into our backyard and see my dad watching my daughter play in her sand pit.  I’m so happy he is here!  I notice him adjusting his thick eye-glasses, a few times.  The breeze must be bothering his eyes.

It’s already evening, I’m making my way to the kitchen to fix dinner.  I see my dad standing still in the hallway.  I ask, “Is everything okay, dad?”  He calmly says, “my vision seems blurry.”  I’m nervous now; he then says his vision is good.  I go on to make dinner.  During dinner, we talk about the house-painters, who were coming to paint our house.

The house gets painted in two days.  My dad seems happy with the paint job, “looks bright and beautiful,” he says.  It’s also time for my dad to return home, in upstate NY.  I live in the south.  “Get your eyes checked, ASAP,” I remind him as we drive to the airport.  He leaves.  Tears roll down my eyes.

Life, after his visit, went on as usual for a few months.  My dad’s eye-check-up went well.  However, at his next eye-check-up, six months later, the doctor said he had to have an eye surgery.  The ophthalmologist operated on both his eyes to save his vision.  But, his vision did not return.

Life, for him, was in a dark place.  He managed traveling with help, and came to “see” his grand kids.  He kept his spirits up.  He laughed and told us jokes while we sat together at the dinner table.  I would let him know placement of food on his dinner plate – 12 o’clock was broccoli, 3 o’clock was bread, 6 o’clock chicken, and 9 o’clock potatoes, and so on.

Nine years had passed…  “I’m a busy man, you know.  My time flies, too.  I THINK – all day long!” My dad would say to us, smiling, when he felt that we were feeling bad for him.  My kids had grown older and taller;  my dad, older and weaker.  He continued living his life in peace, grace, and gratitude; and in deep darkness.  A positive man in his core; my dad lived with great strength. 

In response to The Daily Post’s writing prompt: “Companionable.”

…thanks for visiting my blog…until next time:)

If You Leave…

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It’s been cloudy and raining, intermittently, all day since yesterday.  Still, a nice fall day.  Today, however, it’s chilly, due to cold gusty wind.  I’m all ready for my walk, dressed in layers, for this day.  But my walking companion, Sir Thomas, still in the same spot since 7:30 AM.  It’s 11:15 AM, now.  He looks like a hot-dog stuffed in a bun on our couch.

Hot-dog Sir Thomas

“Let’s get you ready boy, and go for our walk,”  I say to him.  He gives me a stare, which, I can hear loud and clear, “I am not going anywhere, today; you carry on alone, without me…I’ll try losing my extra pounds later.”  “I’m not giving up!” determined, I said.  Enough bugging from me finally gets him off the couch.  Without wasting time, within seconds, I get him ready.  We head out the garage door, and I turn left to walk out of our neighborhood.  Suddenly I’m pulled! In the opposite direction!

“Let me…” Sir Thomas seem to say to me, pulling me to a spot in the middle of our front yard, “Pee!”  Relieved,  he looks around, and sets his stride back toward the garage door, to go inside.   “No! We haven’t even started our walk!” I scream.

It’s ever-so-slightly sprinkling, and the wind has picked up…it’s gusty, for sure.  He really wants to skip this walk!  I pull him away from our house to get out of the neighborhood.  He pulls me toward the house.  I pull him away.  He pulls me toward…I pull him away…he gives in…he has no choice.  Sweet thing.  I love him.

Off we go, outside our neighborhood.  We hurriedly cross a street to get to our walking path. Those darn trees!  Sir Thomas takes forever to move from there.  He sniffs every angle of this one particular tree trunk.  Then, of course, marks a spot on it.

“Hi, it’s not too bad out here.” Enjoying the sniffing.

We  make a move again.  He’d rather be snuggled, today, comfortably on the couch.  He’s walking, today, because of me.  He loves me!

Despite the weather today, we are enjoying the nature.  We hear the birds chirp, the leaves rustle, the wind whistle, whisper and swoosh.  We see no one else out here, today.   But, we see hundreds of leaves here today, flying and falling to the ground.

“Leaves, leaves, and leaves! Every leaf has a potential to be sniffed and marked, by me. “

As we head back home from our walk, Sir Thomas’ pace gets faster.  I smile at his eagerness to get home.  Once inside the house, I notice his tail go up, completely.

“Glad that’s over!” Sir Thomas tells me; actually, his eyes tell me that!  He hits the couch; yawns, stretches and gets ready to snooze.  “Life, you are too good!  If you leave, I’m following you.”

Never! Ever (ever) EVER am I leaving this couch!

Just so you know Sir Thomas, I had a wonderful time today.  Those moments are now in the past.  Those beautiful moments are behind us!  This weather  – if you leave me – I know you’ll be back again.  This gusty wind and this chill – if you leave me – I know you’ll be back soon.  Time – if you leave me – you are not coming back.  Life – if you leave me – you are not returning.  And, that’s the reason I take the time to enjoy my life with you, Sir Thomas:)  Our walks are always interesting.  We won’t let our walks leave us!  We will walk tomorrow, and the day after tomorrow, and everyday after that!

In response to The Daily Post’s writing prompt: “If You Leave.”

…thank you for visiting my blog…until next time 🙂

 

Doggy Photo Shoot Day #22

“What in the world do you think you are doing?” Sir Thomas is perplexed watching Dixie, our pit bull, attempting to catch her own tail. She chases it, and goes round and round in circles.

…thank you for visiting my blog…until next time:)

Healthier and Happier – Working to be Fit Everyday!

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My cheat sheet:) I love it.

My one page note!  My little helper:)

Small consistent changes to eating healthier and living an active lifestyle is what I did to get the results that I wanted.  And, I am still doing it.  I’ve been doing this for almost 15 years now.  I still motivate myself and do lots of self talk.  It has led me to live a healthier and happier life for me, my family and my friends.

Walking in nature is a great exercise. Here my husband is walking our dog Dixie. I walk with our other dog, Sir Thomas, as you may know him.

People ask me if I can help them.  But I don’t have any certification.  I do, however, know how I did it! My little note certainly helped.  I would love to help others, I’m thinking of getting certification in Personal Training so that I can help others.  In the meantime, I still wanted to share  my little photo-note in this post:)

I made this yummy meal! It was filling and healthy, too.

I am regularly reading and learning from different websites.  I educate myself and filter information to fit my body and my given genes.  I fight and beat a few bad genes on a daily basis; but the rest I accept, and continue to move forward.  I, recently, read a good article on fighting bad genes titled, “6 Ways to Beat Your Bad Genes.”  You can read it on, http://www.prevention.com/fitness/fitness-tips/how-your-genes-impact-your-physical-fitness

Can’t emphasize enough – Being consistent and patient is what worked for me!  Small consistent changes to eating healthier and living an active lifestyle is what I did to get the results that I wanted.  And, I will continue doing it!

…thank you for visiting my blog…until next time:)