Allergies are kicking my butt, however. Always happens when the seasons change. Nothing, prescription or non-prescription helps. It’s not constantly a problem, but several times over the course of a day - maybe five or six - I have a really violent sneezing fit. Really cute when I’m in a business meeting. I should retire. I’m becoming such a dinosaur in the workplace. I’m irritated by the inane chatter in the employee lunchroom. There’s a whole contingent of folks - ranging in age and job title from early twenty-something secretary/admin. assistant types to forty, and a few fifty-something administrator/professional types - all of whom seem to just LIVE for the latest fashions (My Vera Bradley bag is better than your Vera Bradley bag) and what’s currently the big draw on TV. Now mind you, I’m not ashamed to say that I dress well - and often, although not always, in bold geometric designs and chunky, trendy jewelry. I haven’t yet conceded to becoming the “grandmotherly” type or the unisex menswear suit-wearing older woman professional. But, having said that, I am no slave to designer label, and frequently (as many of you know) find my stuff (Ah, Vera Wang - you’re a bit of an exception, but a lower price-range one after all…) on SALE at Kohl’s and take advantage, always, of their Wednesday-only 15% off for us over-fifty-five’s. But, my LIFE is not tied up in labels, and I hope I don’t offend anyone by saying that I find that Vera Bradley crap outrageously overpriced. Why, any one of us with a passing knowledge of how to thread a sewing machine and cut some squares and rectangles out of a piece of fabric could run some of those bags up for about five bucks! And, as for the current TV - reality shows, evening soap opera and sitcoms - well, it’s just not my cup of tea: I’d rather curl up with a good book any day. So, I don’t much look forward to lunch, and I like the business luncheons that I have to attend even less. I think I’m just becoming anti-social. Like I said, a dinosaur. I mean, you can put lipstick on a dinosaur, but it’s still a dinosaur, right? <g> Sorry; I can’t resist a little political inference sometimes. (Don’t get me started.)

So, the GOOD thing (I suppose) is that since my last post, I have continued with the Leslie Sansone walking DVD’s - I walk a mile every morning before leaving for work; walk a mile in my office just before lunch (punch up the AC, lock my office door, and strip off jewelry and any clothing that might get in my way) and then a third mile when I get home from work. DH does the morning and evening miles with me. We’re turning into two mighty fit old codgers. My eating has reduced itself, as well. Not through any major effort on my part, except for the fact that I DO cook in a much healthier manner than I used to, and have been for some time, now. My problem was with portion size - I always ate too much of a good thing, basically. Now, if I try to overeat, my stomach rebels and I spend half the night with a belly full of painful gas that won’t move in either direction - up or down. VERY unpleasant, to say the least. So, after suffering through a few nights like that, I have learned to eat much less at supper, and try to make breakfast (two packets of Quaker weight-control maple & brown sugar flavored oatmeal with a handful of raisins thrown in) and lunch my main meals of the day. That gives me time to get it digested before I get prone in the bed.

So, things, they are a’changin’ whether I like it or not. (And I can’t say that I mind too much).

My DS is coming home for a visit on Oct. 15, and I’m soooooo excited. He’ll also be home for Christmas, and it looks like I’ll go out to LA for a visit with him in the spring. How I love it there! I absolutely adore driving down the PCH and hiking through all that beauty in a park that he and Amanda have discovered and frequent themselves for lovely days of hiking and lunching outdoors together. They seem to be fitting together nicely, so I guess maybe I can start really liking the girl and hope that she’s permanent.

I found a wonderful woman poet on a recent excursion with my DH to an Art-on-the-Street fair. Gertrude Halstead is a 93-year-old Jewish WWII camp survivor who writes incredibly powerful and evocative poetry. I bought one of her books - entitled  space    between - and have been enjoying it so much.

I particularly like this little snippet because it is so evocative for me of my first meeting with my now DH (in a museum) -

lunch after Picasso

blue    iris

yellow  velvet  lipped

sips  at  my  table

we  toast  Picasso  periods

i    coffee

she    water

we  part

nodding

Hugs,

Z