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.

Planning for 2015

Everyone in blogland seems so organized - looking backward, planning ahead and even choosing a word for the year.

I on the other hand have not reflected on my past year and have few plans for the new year.

I noticed today that I have not posted since Christmas - what have I been doing?

Steve and I are continuing with our goal of walking at least 2 hours each day - it is nearly 6 miles from the beach to the Ventura Botanical Garden Trail and back.

Yesterday we walked along the beach from Summerland to Carpinteria logging in nearly 6 miles.

I have been busily rearranging the house after removing all of the Christmas decor,

loving the pillows Steve bought me for Christmas and

preparing a home tour post for Anne of Design Dreams by Anne for her Open House Sundays feature.

I spent some time decorating for the New Year's Eve Progressive Dinner on our lane - 

we hosted the 9:00 to midnight portion and managed to accommodate 47 people in our little cottage.

As if organizing the house for the New Year's party wasn't enough, I also spent the day of New Year's Eve tearing up the back yard and moving things around

because our dear friend Manny spent the New Year's Eve day building me a house - and he still found the time to make incredible shrimp salsa for our party.

My little garden house is waiting for its door and then the fun will begin - so, I guess I do have some plans for 2015.

Getting my priorities straight . . .

After being ill in the fall, I had a lot of time to think and I am slowly coming to the realization that I don't have to do everything in a huge way.

Yesterday I was a little stressed because many of our neighbors were coming over at 7:00 p.m. for a planning meeting - the organizer of our New Year's Eve Progressive Dinner has some family issues and the rest of us need to step up our efforts.

I wanted to have the house clean and I wanted to bake treats for the meeting -I had the ingredients to make caramels, fudge, Christmas cut out cookies and peanut butter blossoms.

But, I also wanted to take a long walk with Steve - we are working on creating a new habit of walking at least 2 hours a day.

When it came time for us to go on our walk, I only had the peanut butter blossoms made 

and the dining room table set.

I almost told Steve that I couldn't walk with him, but I stopped and asked myself how bad it would be if I only had peanut butter cookies for my guests - Lulu wasn't in favor of the walk because dogs aren't allowed on the beach we were walking yesterday.

I am so glad that I got my priorities straight because I would have missed out on 

a garden of rock sculptures lining the beach . . . 

tightrope walkers practicing on the promenade . . . 

the changing sky 

as the sun hid behind the clouds . . . 

our neighbor and his daughter in their Santa hats celebrating her winter vacation - she teaches at the local college . . .

adding to my collection of heart rocks and sea snails . . . 

Steve didn't tell me how far the walk would be.

We walked all the way to the World War II gun turret, barefoot on the beach - in the end it was 3 hours and just short of 8 miles.

I was so exhausted when we got home that we called for pizza and I barely finished vacuuming before the first neighbors arrived.

It was dark when our guests arrived and no one even noticed whether I had cleaned or not.

The vote was unanimous - dinner and midnight champagne at the Cook's this year.

But, I am keeping my priorities straight for New Year's Eve - everyone else is bringing the food and I just have to remove all my Christmas decorations to make room for the 47 people who have been invited.

And, today made it Day 6 of our long walks- we combined a little shopping, walking Lulu and our exercise into a walk downtown - this time it was only 6 miles.

I am not glad I was ill, but I am glad that I figured out what is most important in my life.