One Year Mark

 Today, September 9th, is the one-year anniversary of Butch's death. It feels so strange to put that in a sentence. I suppose,at least partly, because in many ways he is still with me. I feel that he always will be. I get dozens of reminders every day.

It has been a busy year and I think that was a blessing. Idle hands...and minds are the devils workshop. One of my many "theories" is if you do not get enough human contact your thinking can get a bit wonky. In an indirect way, I learned that from my mother.😁 Yup, she was many times on the wonky side. Always interesting,however!

So today is a day whereby Butch will be jumping into my mind more abundantly than normal. He will be very welcome.

Safe Cleaning

 Jason and I went through my Safe this past weekend, discarding things that were outdated, or merely no longer needed. We ran across some sayings that I had kept a long time ago. I am guessing in the 1980's. I have always been a fan of word play and this find brought it out front and center.

I will put them here in no particular order: 

If it doesn't affect your breathing, let it go.

If you cannot change your mind, are you sure you have one?

Purranoia: The fact your cat's up to something.

A guy had to give up drag racing-couldn't run in high heels.

I have never been able to find out precisely what feminism is: I only know that people call me a feminist whenever I express sentiments that differentiates me from a doormat. Rebecca West-1913

A bad spell of wether. 

Cats are smarter than dogs. You can't get eight cats to pull a sled through snow.

Do not meddle in the affairs of cats, for they are subtle and will piss on your computer.

Don't sweat the petty things and don't pet the sweaty things.

If you keep doing what you have always done, you'll keep getting what you've always got. 

Most computer problems are caused by a loose nut between the chair and the keyboard.

I still like all of them!

Choose Wisely

I think you know where I stand.

Take it to heart...

How do you stay married for 60 plus years? This is how!

 

It happens every fall

 My thoughts start heading South every Fall. I am not quite there yet but it isn't far off. After all October follows September right on it's heals. I pare down what I buy for food. I have a container that holds things I plan to take but do not need in the margin. I start making lists. Not as long as they used to be, however still needed.

My main thought in coming to Evergreen Ridge was having a life with few complications and short ToDo lists.  I have achieved that. It leaves time for many things, such as reading, walking, crafting, playing pool, playing cards with friends, and many other fun things. 

We have several openings in this wonderful place I am living in. I asked about that when they were still full and was told it fluctuates. We currently have 6 maybe 7 open units. In our age group the coming and going can happen quickly. Keeping in mind we are an Independent facility. We must be able to take care of all our needs on our own. Another good reason to stay fit as a fiddle. 

Across the street is an assisted living place. I heard yesterday that a person from there is coming here! I asked how that happens and was told they went there first not thinking about the differences. They happened to be a late sleeper. They would not let them sleep in. Must be up for breakfast! I can see the reason for that as they are supposed to keep tabs on the people.  But if you have slept till at least 8 AM most of your life 7 AM breakfast is not on your to-do list. I guess that is another motivation to stay able to do for yourself as long as possible. I also thought of several people in my life. My mother had a business in her home but if you called or came by before 9:00 you were on her blank list. I told her the World turns at 8 ,Mom. She did not believe it. And my husband loved staying in bed in the morning as long as possible. He would have been livid if he had to get up before 8, unless it was to play golf or some other fun event. 

So I walked 2 miles this morning...now if I can stay away from the sugar treats I might be able to stay Idependent.

Going WAY back!

I hate to admit this, but I never look at comments. I didn't know I could, to be honest. And today, of all days, I found 74 of them going way, way back to before 2012! 

Bill and Kay were our friends and neighbors when we wintered in Magnolia Park, Donna, Texas. Bill of Bill and Kay was a very thrifty fellow, along with being a happy and very fun guy to be around. Bill and Kay are both deceased now. I so enjoyed finding this post, so I am sharing it with you.

Sent on May 6th from Kay S

For my friends who know Bill and Kay this will not be surprising...We need to reach out to our friend in this time of need. Perhaps we should consider an intervention.
Barb
From Kay:
"I have been home exactly 1 week today and already I am dreading the summer. Bill went up to his special little fruit market just across the border in Michigan. They had fresh strawberries for 25 cents a quart. His heart stopped, his eyes bugged out and he had thought he had hit the mother lode. He came home with 20 quarts. I am just now getting done. I ended up with 9 (16 oz). Red Neck wine glasses, 18 other jars of various sizes, but most were 16 oz, and 4 quart bags of sliced berries that I froze. I could give a s--t if I ever see another strawberry. Tell Butch there will be an ample supply of jam this winter on Peach Street. Also in this same trip he got a head of lettuce, a head of cauliflower, celery, and last but not least a bag (not small) of fresh green beans. Think of me, as it is only the first week of May. Somebody please adopt me QUICK"
Kay S.

Right?

Oh, yes! This happened at our house! Always with a smile!

Let's go for a walk!

 When I lived on Cedar Street, I had it all figured out. From the house to the mile marker on the bike trail was a block or two over a mile. So to the mile marker and home again was easy, a bit over two miles. 

It has been a bit of a struggle to figure it out since moving across town, but I had a breakthrough this morning. It was too dark to start off outdoors, so I made the seven trips around inside that equal one mile and then went outdoors to do my usual trip. I clocked the whole business, and it was the same amount of time it always was on Cedar. In other words, a bit over two miles.

I have been committed to walking for more years than I can count. I assume if you know me very well at all that isn't news. There have been times and circumstances that have kept me from walking, but the way my day goes and how I feel always brings me back to it. 

There are things that make it easier. Walking with a friend, the time just flies. It isn't always easy to find one who will commit. Set a time and a place every day to meet, and then you don't want to let your walking partner down. Or you can listen to an audiobook. I only wear one earbud so I can still hear what is happening in my surroundings. Many times I continue to listen once I get home.

Intending to lose weight by walking is not a good reason to start. Results are not quick or perhaps impossible. I have talked to many who have made that a goal without results. More energy, sleeping better, and a general overall good feeling are all better and often immediate results. Now, if you are a lifelong couch potato, take it slow, maybe starting off with a block. If you don't, you may not believe a word I have written.

I used to take my camera. I can always find something to take a picture of. Your phone can work too.

Trail pics: A favorite of my trail pics. I was very close.

On the trail

Taken this year!

Pondering

Good Grief

 September 9th, 2026, will mark the one-year anniversary of Butch's passing

Butch and I were a team. We knew each other like the back of my hand. You do not happily live together for 66 years without that truth. Every time we embarked on a new adventure, we would say, "Just you and me, kid!"  We were and are as tight as any two would want to be. It was a gradual thing, of course, as life is, and there were rocky times for sure. After all, we were married in our teens!

But now he is gone from here, but not gone from me. I know he would be proud of me, as I am so proud of him. In the last days of his life, he knew it was about to end, and he did it so well and tried his best to make it easy for me.

Everyone grieves differently. It is the most personal thing to go through. I am happy, and there are those who may think I shouldn't be. All I can say is you can't take that away from me. I am happier and more grateful than ever and always will be. He would approve wholeheartedly.

Maybe In your 80's?

  I do not know how it happened, why it happened, or, in particular, when it happened. Perhaps the beginning was when we retired.  I am genuinely and cognitively happy. To this recipe add a giant-sized amount of gratitude. I wish everyone could look at life this way and feel the result.

Being a Kid...

 Butch and I were married in our teen years. When I read this cartoon, I immediately thought of Butch. One of his wonderful qualities was that when he came home from work, he played with the boys. I didn't think a thing of it at the time. Now I know how wonderful that was.

Romance in the Air!

 No, it is not me! But I might have had something to do with it. One of them expressed to me an interest in the other one, and I passed the word along. Younger people may be dismayed or encouraged by this, but romance does not change much no matter the age. We might be in more of a hurry considering the time limit we are working on. Other than that, it is much the same. 

As far as I know, the majority of us are very happy for them. I'm betting that is not a subject you ever expected me to write about! Me either!

Moving on... As I was walking through the main hall yesterday, one of my Evergrene friends said to me, "You sure have a lot of friends!" I hadn't put much thought into it. After consideration, I sure do! I have Jefferson friends, South Texas friends, Family friends, and now Evergreen friends. And Butch and I, during our 10 years of RVing, picked up a few strays along the way. It is nearly impossible for me to keep up with them all, and that is the reason for this blog. The only negative to this is that you all know about me, but I don't get as much info about you. So send me a note if you will to Keep.movin.on@gmail.com. Whether you do or not, I will still count you among my friends. 💞

Love those AI photos!

One of those moments...

 Sitting here doing my computer stuff, I happened to look up and catch sight of a hummingbird sitting still! That does not happen often. I grabbed my camera, my good camera, and started shooting away. What fun!  

I think this one is a Ruby-throated hummingbird. The two above may also be. Sometimes the light isn't right, and we are having a cloudy day.

Well, that took a chunk of the morning!

I did get my walk in and visited a while with Colleen, whom I happened to run into on the walk. Then I spent some time getting sap off my car. Jason washed it for me last weekend, but sap doesn't come off that easily. Note to self: Park in a different spot next season. I found myself lucky as my Goo-Gone worked! 

Then and Now

 Butch always slept late. In fact, he said he could go right back to sleep whenever he did wake up. I thought that strange then, but not so much now because I sometimes feel that way too. Most of my life, I would hit the ground running, so to speak. When I woke up, I was anxious and happy to get things done. I did often say that if I didn't get it done before noon, it most likely would not get done that day.

So Butch liked to sleep in, and I did not. I treasured those hours of silence to get a head start on my day. It is so different now. My computer hours have turned up missing and/or put off. I recognize there are gaps in my posts. I have yet to find a rhythm for timely posts.  I'm still working on it.

I just had a lightbulb moment! I am trying to cram a long walk, a computer post, and other computer-related work, as well as many other things, into my day before noon!

 No wonder it isn't getting done! Perhaps I can make some adjustments. If you start seeing daily posts, you will know I have succeeded!

View from my desk window... The suncatchers are on the window.

 

Keri made me a peach pie. It was scrumptious.

Since I still have a bit of gumption in me, I will now work on Thursday's trivia questions.

Mouse

 These are Butch's work boots. I tried to not keep them. In the end, they had to come with me. You can find them in the picture taken in my living room.

Here is a close-up of them.

Jason or maybe Laura took this photo of a hummer at their house.

 I thought it was a particularly good one.

This is for my "booky" friends. 

I can relate, although not as much now as earlier in my life.😁

Okay, did you see the mouse? Jason put it there, and I didn't see it for a week. And yes, it looked so real I had to get a closer look! If you missed it too, go back and look at the boots.

Screeching Halt!

 Don't panic...that is only what it feels like. I came back to Iowa with a long list of things to get done. It looked never-ending to me at the time. It has arrived. This entire week has only one to-do on it, and that's to pick up a med refill at the pharmacy. This too has its adjustments.

This morning I decided my comfy abode needed some cleaning up, so I hit the floor running, went for my morning walk, then came home and cleaned house. Finished by 10:00 AM, then ate breakfast!  

I see a curve ball in there! "Cleaned House." That is a phrase from my childhood or perhaps it is a Midwest term. And it reminds me of another term I heard lately. My sis-in-law Keri told me last week that she and her brother were going to "Put up corn." She was a farm girl, and "putting up corn" was just a fact of life. I thought I knew what she meant.  After all, I had heard the term "Putting up hay". Being a town girl, my understanding was that of a town girl and not as exact as she meant. She was referring to gathering sweet corn and freezing it to last through the winter.  Regional phrases are fun to run across.

Colleen and I walked at Daubendiek's Park down by the Raccoon River.  river.https://www.alltrails.com/trail/us/iowa/daubendiek-park-loop

It is a 0.70 walk around the loop. Beautifully taken care of. 

I had not been there for years. It is one more of Jefferson's often overlooked treasures. I took some photos.

We followed this up with a visit to Henderson Park, just a short way south of town on HWY 4, near the golf course. Not a walking course per se, but definitely a sit-and-ponder park. The sound of the river running over the rocks is very soothing.

Pictures at Henderson Park: 

An honest stacking of rocks. Well Done!

Truth?

 While walking this morning, my little sis popped into my mind.  One of her many sayings was "Do you want the truth or a beautiful lie?" She so loved bending the truth to make things more interesting.

A friend

Avalanches! Tornados! Today is one of those days when thoughts of what I want to do keep popping into my head. I am in the midst of a craft project. It is fun, and I feel very good about it. But then I saw this opportunity to read a book by a local author on Kindle, and I thought ‘Oh yes, I want to do that!' And then I thought about my friend who I met in mysterious ways and what I could write about that! If I don’t get it from my head to print, it could easily get lost somewhere between my ears.

How we met. First off, I have known of her nearly my entire life. I knew her name. I knew her sister. And that pretty well sums it up. I found myself sitting in our RV alone and feeling very sorry for myself. Butch and I had started our RVing full-time plan. I was feeling I had been planted somewhere so he could go play golf while I was left to my own plan without a plan. I was in my hometown, where I had not been for 20 years or more. After 20 years, most of the people I used to know have left town or are otherwise occupied. You don’t just pop in on someone you have not seen in nearly forever and say I am here to visit!

And then this friend I did not know as a friend knocked on my door! The other day, we both decided we could not remember how we connected. I gave it some serious thought and remembered. Our husbands were golfing together. At least that's what we surmise.

We had RVing in common. So now, when we came back to Jefferson, I had a connection. We stayed in touch in lots of ways; we walked the bike trail every morning at 7:00 for a few years, we emailed, I blogged, she wrote columns, we would talk on the phone, and 2 hours would pass in a heartbeat. It got to the point we both hesitated to call because we knew it would be lengthy. I think our record is over 3 hours!

What brought all of this to mind happened yesterday. I was doing my early morning walk, and she spotted me while driving by and pulled to the curb. A train was going by, and it was Sunday, so traffic was nonexistent. I am guessing we talked for 15 minutes or more, and then she came to my house, where we continued the conversation.

These kinds of friends are few and far between. I have a few. I think you are very lucky if you have even 1!

And now I can get back to beading!

Pictures

 Trip down memory lane. I think you are all familiar with dragging out the big box of photos taken long, long ago. I have been doing the updated version of that on my computer. I will not bore you with all of my memories, but this one was out of the ordinary.

Butch didn't like asparagus, and no one is surprised by that. He knew I loved it and would bring some to me if the occasion presented itself. When I came upon this photo, I recognised the hands. No label necessary.