by Sharon | May 9, 2016
Yes, I was out and about early this morning.
Has some errands to run and wanted to get an early start.
There is something nice about getting up early and getting out in the fresh air and sunshine to brighten your perspective.
This was my trash pick up day . . . but I got my barrels out last night and found I had plenty of energy to do some sweeping up of the debris left from our recent rain. I also noticed the barrels had been emptied . . . so, it was time for me to bring them back in . . . but there were broken limbs from a tree I had to pick up and cut down a bit to fit in the barrel . . .
I was pleased to clean things up before most of my neighbors realized their barrels were emptied.
After all that, I left for my errands.
It does feel good to get things accomplished before noon . . . then you have the reminder of the day to write blogs and tidy the house and do crafts and just relax.
Many times I linger in the mornings . . . watching the power walkers . . .
But, I’m beginning to think they have the right idea . . . get up early and get moving . . .
I do feel good . . . invigorated . . . happy and very pleased . . .
It’s good from time to time to vary your schedule and get a new perspective . . . possibly an attitude adjustment . . . I don’t know any proper phrase that would describe it . . . but you may have already filled in the blanks . . .
I do hope you get outdoors daily . . . it does bring something wonderful . . . It’s not necessary to power walk for a mile or more, but to just get out and stroll around your yard would be enough . . . unless you want to take a long walk or bike ride . . .
Exercise is good, no matter how strenuous you want to make it . . . there is something about just walking around or pulling weeds or sweeping or raking . . . small tasks are excellent . . .
I find I spend much too much time in front of the computer . . . or sitting reading or doing crafts . . . we do need to move . . . not just to the kitchen for a snack . . .
And do more than the household chores . . .
I thought it was important to exercise the mind . . . to keep it sharp . . .
And physical exercise is essential, too . . . but I’m not into getting worn out and sweaty . . . not a pretty sight nor feeling . . .
I don’t know if you need to get all red in the face from exercise to be meaningful or helpful . . . I don’t believe getting overheated is a good thing either . . . but I’m no expert on the subject.
Consulting a medical doctor would be good . . . and also listening to your body . . . sometimes we have to take it easy before going on a 10K run . . . it takes baby steps . . . in my case it does, but for many of you it may not be a big deal . . .
I take the weather conditions into consideration . . . I don’t go out in the rain for a walk . . . unless I’m dressed appropriately and have an umbrella . . . I like to keep as dry as possible and not get a chill . . . getting sick is not on my “to do” list.
I also don’t go out when the weather is in the high 90’s or gets into the 100’s. I do keep hydrated with water . . . some people go for the special waters that give more nutrients . . . but I’m not doing strenuous labor-type tasks in the heat of the day . . .
It’s important to follow doctor’s orders and to use some common sense . . .
Spring seems to be turning to summer here in Southern California
Today is forecast to be a bit warmer than previous days . . .
I hope we get more rain . . . that cools us down and gives us more spring . . . and helps with our drought conditions.
I know I feel better when the weather is cold, cool and fair . . . I’m not fond of hot temperatures . . .
We may be getting our normal June Gloom . . . but we’ve had this in April and May thus far . . . and I’m enjoying it . . . it can continue throughout the summer . . . and I’ll be welcoming fall way before it is due . . . I do love fall . . .
I’m already working on Halloween stuff . . . and maybe will get into the Christmas in July thing many crafters do . . . a head start on any holiday crafting is always a good idea . . .
Some people work on what pleases them throughout the year . . . depending upon their favorite holiday or what they feel like doing . . . I know from looking at Pinterest, some people are still into Easter . . . others have been pinning about Halloween since last Halloween . . . and, of course, Christmas is always popular . . . and there are those who love cooking and have their favorite recipes . . . plus variations of S’Mores . . . it is a year round treat for many . . . just as hot chocolate . . .
We don’t necessarily have to divide our attention with food and decorating and crafts to go along with the appropriate holiday season . . . we can enjoy what we enjoy throughout the year . . . People go to warmer climates during the winter and cooler climates during the summer . . .
We may all to some degree be fair weather lovers . . . to be comfortable indoors and outdoors . . .
Thank you for stopping by!
Until next time,
Sharon
by Sharon | Nov 2, 2015
Feeling A Bit Lost After Halloween
It’s interesting how the let down of one holiday event drives one forward to another holiday.
I have been anticipating Thanksgiving prior to the Halloween celebration. Then, once Halloween arrived, I was at a loss to proceed forward to Thanksgiving.
I believe the weather has a lot to do with it. We’ve been experiencing warm days — still summer, early fall type of forecasts. The rain, then the wind and the heat . . . now the forecast of rain . . .
I can get into the rain. It seems appropriate for the onset of the Thanksgiving season.
Strange How Thanksgiving Is A Transition Holiday
We’re bombarded with Christmas ads . . . Thanksgiving seems to be the forgotten holiday.
I do enjoy Thanksgiving. It’s a time of reflection for me. A time to get together with family and be very grateful for the love, caring and sharing the holiday provides.
I reflect on all holidays, actually. Thanksgiving seems to have this quality built-in. Yet, it seems to have become a “transition” holiday. A prelude of sorts for Christmas.
In my family, Thanksgiving was celebrated as a major holiday. We would get together for either Thanksgiving or Christmas, rarely both. It seemed to always coincide with work schedules.
This may be true today and also flight schedules and various other factors. The media puts much more focus upon Christmas . . . and all the songs associated with the holiday . . . and the sense that one must be home for Christmas.
For me, the weather makes a big difference in how I feel about the holiday season.
If we can get some rain and maintain colder temperatures, then I’m good to go.
I remember having a warm Thanksgiving and Christmas . . . it just didn’t seem the same. I feel myself with this lackluster feeling.
We did celebrate as usual, but something was entirely different within me. It may have been better for us to celebrate in another location where the temperature was a bit or quite a bit colder.
I don’t know if this is common for most people. Perhaps they just flow with it. I’m happy for them. I need a complete package to completely the embrace the holiday.
My Local Market Has A Sign On The Door “The Turkeys Are Coming”.
It’s our notice to reserve our Thanksgiving turkey.
But, the sign doesn’t amuse me as it once did. Maybe it’s no big deal. Or the weather has me in a funk.
I dislike it when I get this way. I ran an errand and stopped at the park to reflect for awhile. I thought the change of scenery would give me a more positive perspective.
I thought it would be good to get out in nature and perhaps among the population and see if I could catch some of that holiday enthusiasm.
Nope, not there.
Even the clerks in the various stores don’t have that holiday spirit.
Weather Has Much To Do With How We Feel
There has been scientific research that has proven this fact.
I don’t know if they’ve studied weather we’re experiencing with the specific anticipation of a holiday season. I’m doing my own unofficial research and I’ve found sales were down for Halloween and during this transition period before Christmas the stores are relatively empty.
Unofficially, in my area, others are feeling the same lack of enthusiasm as I am.
People involved in various sports and the fans are into their team games. This seems to bridge the gap.
For me when the weather becomes a bit cooler, I’ll get into my stride and get the holiday spirit going full steam ahead.
Thanks for stopping by. Please leave me a comment to let me know your thoughts about the weather and the holidays and whether it affects you or not.
Until next time,
Sharon
by Sharon | Aug 13, 2015
Yes, I’m talking about the weather!
In my little corner of the universe it may get 110°F today. Fortunately, I have no plans other than working on my websites and taking care of my precious Diva. We’ll be out from time to time in the backyard . . . but other than that we’ll be indoors with the air conditioning and a fan circulating the air.
I may have mentioned a time or two that I’m doing a Boot Camp with the Affiliate Marketing group I’ve joined and been a member of for the past year . . . Since February, 2014. I now have 5 websites . . . my newest one is http://indefinitevacation.com is about Affiliate and Internet Marketing as a broad topic. I review products of the work at home on-line variety. There are still scams out there, so beware. It’s a shame how too many people are out to get money from people who don’t have money to waste on tomfoolery.
I’m learning quite a lot about keywords and found a program for screen capture. I’m working on making Power Point Videos . . . I found a lesson on that from changing a slide show to a video. I need to check into that.
It’s truly amazing what is available to learn on-line and getting free software or apps that will do some amazing things. But, Power Point is a paid program . . . I got it with Word . . . I love having a word processing software. Office Word is still quite popular which seems surprising to me, but there are students who still use it and I’m definitely old school when it comes to the computer. I’m not up on the newest, greatest and latest.
I enjoy my blogs and learning something new each and every day.
Now, back to the weather, we’re into August, the hottest month of the year, but we do get some warm days up until Fall, my favorite time of year — how many times have you heard me say that? And, of course, I’m going to mention that false fall that gets my hopes up . . . only to be dashed with another hot spell we call 
Indian Summer.
I do wonder where the term Indian Summer came from and if I’m using it right. So a little research was in order.
I have found I’m in error. It usually occurs between November 11 through November 20. But that’s on the east coast . . . here in Southern California we get a bit of a cold spell and then warm weather kicks in during late September and through October . . . but the evenings do cool down quite a bit . . . which has been happening this summer as well. We’ve had a few warm nights though.
The term goes back to the early settler in New England. In late October they would welcome the arrival of cold winter-like weather allowing them to leave their stockades unarmed. Then it would suddenly turn warm again. The Native Americans would take advantage of this change in the weather and have another go at the settlers. So, the settlers named this last go around “Indian Summer.”
Isn’t is great to learn something new?
Thanks for stopping by!
Be sure to leave me a comment with your thoughts about Indian Summer.
Sharon, Owner of TwoCansOnAString.com
