A Little Long in the Tooth?

I just took this shot a few blocks from home. The hydrangeas, just like the summer, are getting long in the tooth but this one is in a shady spot.

Poor Stella had a bit of a challenging day today but she is hanging in there and sitting here with me. Laptops are still pretty darn cool when one thinks of all one can do.... Even my 3 year old MacBook Pro is hanging in there. (Of course the trackpad doesn't work so great but everything else does.)

Here is a link to this great  document of abandoned building in Detroit. Wow. I could just dive right in. Melancholy and beautiful.

Nice Color Mix

Interview about the moral dilemmas for aging Quadriplegics. This is the couple on the cover of the New York Times Sunday Magazine last week.

Long week. Lots of lovely weather here though.

Imperfect shot. Lovely color mix though.

Better 2.1

This is my favorite kind of dahlia. I am not crazy about the spiky rolled petal ones that remind me of chrysanthemums. I took this Sunday over in a garden in NE Portland.

Things in general have been better today. Though there is always a balance isn't there? As Stella feels a little better and is a bit more stable my Sam the man, the perfectly proportioned orange cat is not feeling well at all.

I still need to go out and wander around the track in the cool of the evening and listen to the audio book of The Woman Upstairs.

The Dahlias are Here

The dahlias are blooming here now in Portland and fall is everywhere in the air. We have slipped off the relentless climate change track for a respite into typical summer weather. Misty drizzly gloom in the mornings burning off in the afternoons.

As I am struggling with anxiety this week for a number of reasons I found this letter and it's attendant article helpful.

Listening to the writer Tomi Ungerer talk about what it was like growing up in occupied Alsace during the war he says it wasn't the fear so much as the constant anxiety that was problematic.

We aren't at war! At least not here at home. Sometimes... she says...shaking her head.

Better Late than...

I took this yesterday I think. It is a late rose I can see right this minute looking out my bedroom window into the twilight.

Last night I splurged and bought a one year digital subscription to National Geographic. I wanted to read the article on the history of humans and sugar.

As if I didn't have enough to read!

It is a real roller coaster with Stella's well being right now. Not so good earlier today but better this evening. She ate (Sam's wet food) and I got the anti-nausea medicine down her and she isn't hiding anymore. Well, not hiding, at least when she is sure I am not coming after her with a pill or some other odious thing...

Bike Crazy

I took this photo from my phone at the art museum yesterday. It is of the new blue (very blue) bike racks they have installed.

All the bike geeks are as fun to watch at the cool Cyclepedia Iconic Bicycle Design exhibit as the bikes themselves that are hung on wires and come to you on a moving track. The exhibit has a wonderful energy about it. The new director is doing good things me thinks.

I look forward to having Most Honorable explain all the special features of the bikes to me when we go together to see it.

Chokes

I read this blog post about Natural Carpet Cleaning Technique earlier this week and tried it tonight. I did one thing differently and vacuumed up the excess paste pretty much after I spread it on the stains with a cheap pastry brush. Then scrubbed with a dry stiff brush and went for a 20 minute walk.

When I came back I used warm water and a washcloth and washed and rinsed all the stains. In the morning I'll vacuum again. There seems to be some concern about cats and borax so I don't think I'll do this often but I am pretty motivated to get the bulk of the stains up.

Poor Stella and her digestive troubles. I think we are through the worst of this most recent bout.

In other news I had a weirdly productive and cheerful workday. I had a lunch break and clocked out pretty much on time. Wow.

Better

Things are better today.

Stella is doing well and the sun is shining and I was able to get to the gym midday.

My test results came back showing I have a healthy heart and am fit. I do have a lower than normal heart rate though, but no funky patterns or irregularity. That is just awesome.

I am procrastinating working on poems to submit for the Master Class on finishing poems I am taking in a couple of weeks. I am trying not to get too spun out about it and just notice the fact of it.

We closed the fiscal year this morning at work on time. There will be a bit of a break in the intensity for a time and I am thrilled about that plus they have lifted the hiring freeze in general and that is very good news for all of us.

This wonderfully done piece and video about the young man that became famous after the iconic photo that I did see the day of the Boston Marathon bombing made me cry. But in a good way. The video is about five minutes long and worth a look.

Cat Related Challenges

The Blues Festival is wrapping up here as the clouds move into the valley after a pretty afternoon.

I took this yesterday down in Salem.

Poor Stella threw up again today, midday. She didn't eat her anti-nausea med last night after all. Darn it.

And Kelly, my cat sitter, stuck herself with a needle this afternoon. She was distracted and not wearing her glasses and those sub q fluid giving needles are big.

Oh well. I guess one needs the challenges to keep the good days in perspective.

A Very Vera Day

A quiet holiday here at Chez Noko. I took this on my afternoon walk about the neighborhood after taking a nap and reading the third in the Vera Stanhope series of books by Ann Cleeves. The show, which I have on DVD is in different order than the books. So I am finishing the third book but it is the first in the television series. Apparently they call bird banding, ringing in the U.K.

My link today is about a new study on exercise and anxiety. So it is not just my Buddhist and Yogic training that lets me recover quickly from my frequent fits of anxiety brought on by work...it is also exercise.

I did dead lifts at the gym today. Haven't done those in a few years. I think I'll return to modest weight lifting when I retire. Hopefully all the exercise I do in the meantime will help me get to retirement age in relatively decent shape. I received my 25 lbs. lost charm at Weight Watchers last night. So I seem to be on the right track. (No test results yet on wearing the monitor.)