Deleting ... Editing ... Adding

As I age and parts of me no longer cooperate with my plans, I have come to realize that I need to add new things to my life, delete others and edit many of the things I already do.

I love to doodle, but holding a pen is painful so that's a deletion

as is embroidery for now - I started this piece in December and I don't know if I'll ever finish it.

The most difficult deletion is tennis (a very, very old pic of me on the left) - it doesn't look like I will be gripping a tennis racket for quite awhile

and, I will never play competitive tennis again.

But, editing how I do things I have always done (like riding my bicycle) keeps me active.

Nowadays we ride farther, but I can't grip my handlebars well for hills so the flat trails along the beach are pretty much my territory.

A year ago we switched from paddle kayaks to pedal kayaks

and that "editing" has made all the difference in the world - like a quick pedal out to the mile marker.

Walking was always just a couple of miles in the morning,

 but now we take 5 to 6 mile walks, along a variety of beaches, several times a week.

So if I can no longer say I am a tennis player or a crafter or a doodler, what can I add to my list of pastimes?

These days I actually think of myself as a photographer and I have fun "staging" photos

and playing with my camera.

On our walks and bicycle rides, I am always looking for something to photograph like wildflowers in the state park and

it's always fun to stop and watch the herons.

I no longer spend my time doing fine motor skills crafts so

with spring in full bloom in my neck of the woods,

I am moving furniture around the "garden room",

 planting flowers

and taking photographs.

The bud finally opened and all of you who told me I had a poppy were right.

Just as I delete, add and edit my blog posts,

I have done the same with my life

and after a lot of tweaking,

I think I finally have it right.

LIFE - a great bundle of little things

Lately, I have been taking the time to enjoy all the little things in my daily life

We savor our daily walks along the beach.

 It's lobster season

and we have been finding buoys washed up on the sand.

With a little spray paint and masking tape

 Steve transformed the buoys and created a colorful display on our new fence.

The corner by the fence looked a little plain so I moved an old bench from the side of the house and went shopping for plants.

I always go a little nuts at the nursery so my rain boots got some fresh flowers

as did my grandpa's coal bucket - it wasn't red in his day!

Moving to the back yard, I added pansies to my grapevine basket,

my olive bucket and

to my grandpa's watering can - it wasn't yellow in his day!

I prefer to buy plants rather than cut flowers, but I couldn't pass up sunflowers.

It's been a bundle of little things round here,

but that's LIFE.

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Life's Twists and Turns

It is funny how things work out, or don't!

Many years ago, we lived in San Diego and my sister lived in Ventura.

She was going through an amiable divorce and they really did not want to sell this house that they loved.

Real estate was just starting to escalate in California and in the 3 years they owned the house, the value had increased by 150%.

My sister had not decided what direction her life would take and didn't want to live there alone so, reluctantly, they put the house on the market and it sold the same day.

One month later, out of the blue, Steve was transferred from San Diego to Oxnard.

Oh, how we all wished that they had not sold the house.

It was in a great location in town and only a 15 minute walk to the beach.

But, I often wonder how things might have been different had we rented that house rather than renting where we did.

Because we rented from a realtor, we were signed up with Welcome Wagon.

Most of our initial friends (and still to this day) were made through Newcomer's Club.

I began substituting at a pre-school through contacts I made through Newcomer's Club.

Through Newcomer's Club, we joined Gourmet Group.

One night while hosting Gourmet Group at our house, Steve met the vice-president of a major company who liked him and told him to send in a resume.

Steve changed careers through that chance meeting.

Our children's first friends were made through Newcomer's Club via playgroup and babysitting co-op.

We joined our tennis club, where the kids literally grew up, because of friends made in Newcomer's and Gourmet Group.

I drive by my sister's first house every time I go to the grocery store.

And almost every time, thoughts run through my head about what is, what might have been and what might not have been had we moved to that house immediately upon our transfer.

Would we still live there?

Would I be a teacher?

Would Steve have remained at the original company and thus have been transferred again, and again?

Would our children be the people they are today?

So many questions that we will never answer.

Our twists and turns have brought us to this place.

Who knows what might have been.

But, we know what is.

And, that is, life in a little cottage by the sea.