My friend's awesome cooking site

http://www.restlesschipotle.com/

Marye comes up with the most amazing recipes!  I am transitioning from eating out constantly due to being too stressed to cook, and her recipes make it worth the trouble.  :)

Here's a photo of her version of Chicken Paprikash.  She uses noodles instead of dumplings, but that's ok, because she knows her paprika facts!

testing, testing....

Just trying to find my long-neglected blog....

speaking of poets...

To live in this world
You must be able
to do three things:
to love what is mortal;
to hold it
against your bones knowing
your own life depends on it;
and, when the time comes to let it go,
to let it go.

- Mary Oliver

Still walking!!

Even though I haven't blogged in a while, I have kept up with my commitment to walk outside everyday.  In the rain, after dark, under gorgeous sunny skies and at the park. 

I'm also a poet!

I got some nice photos on yesterday's walk at Rockburn Park.  It is one of my favorite places, even though it brings back so many memories of Wilber and the kids' soccer games.  The paths wind through all sorts of woods and streams. 

During all our years of walking there, we got to watch this old cabin go through all the stages of being restored.  One morning we were amazed to find out it had been set on fire by vandals the night before.  Amazingly, the restorers were able to keep working on it anyway.

A quick peek through the window revealed that it is now it is used to store the park's recycling bins.  Not exactly the historically accurate contents I was expecting.  Still, I'm very grateful that this old building is still standing, in spite of all that it has been through.

If you look very very closely, you can tell that those are big blue recycling bins.

The next craze in chips is...

Now that I have established a lifelong habit of walking (it only takes 10 days to make a habit, right?!), I ventured back to my organic market to find some new healthy food.  Might as well eat better too.  Today's surprising new product is .....

They are rather tasty! 

Tomorrow I'll dip a few in some hummus for a really, really odd snack.  Most of what I eat now, I'd never even heard of a few years ago.   I also got my first Wendy's free mini Frosty today, so I haven't gone totally Euell Gibbons...yet.

Next on the list is some oddly-named tea the herb guy recommends.  :)

Speeches, Soup and Socializing

Still not quite up to snuff.  Today was the Toastmaster's meeting though, and I'm feeling a lot better than I have the rest of this week, so I ventured back out into the Not My Apartment.

The meeting was fun, mostly because I did not give a speech.  Once I become an official member, I will give a speech as often as possible.  Maybe the more I do them, the less terrifying they will be.  My theory is that once I have a lot of practice with speeches, everything else in life will be easier too.

A close approximation of the
Italian Wedding Soup we had at Facci's

It worked out that I could meet my friend for lunch after the meeting.  We both in the mood for soup.  She ordered the sensible and delicious Italian wedding soup, and I threw caution to the wind and got the cream of crab.  Very decadent and scrumptious.

The special soup was my way of celebrating the completion of my third independent study.   I am rounding the last bend towards getting that Master's degree in June!!  One more independent study left to do, and then a big project and I'm done.  Yay!

Today's walk was rather short but it still counts!  The weather was much nicer and I'm impressed that I've kept my commitment for (I think) 7 days!  Definitely a longer streak than anytime since my dog was ensuring I went out every day.  I'm optimistic that I will be able to keep this up.

Potential deterrents, eliminated!

It is freezing cold today.

And I have a little cold.  My poor nose keeps running.

Thankfully, I discovered an herb expert on YouTube the other day, and his cure works!!

How to Knock Out a Cold

(I didn't have any Eucalyptus oil handy, and it still helped me feel a lot better.)

The oranges are for later.
And I didn't use nearly as much onion as I did when I made this for my son. :)

I have steamed my nose with onions and I'll be going outside around 1:15 this afternoon, in the hopes that it the sun will be warming it up by then.

Winter weather arrived today

My son came with me, and we got caught in a mini blizzard 
right after we took this one.

Today's walk was mostly about getting photos.  The challenging part of that was focusing the camera, since I'd forgotten to bring my glasses.

The sky turned very dark, very fast.

I like how they turned out though.  Can't wait til tomorrow to take some more.

Winds of Change

My daughter, Megan, moved to Ireland today, so I didn't get my walk until 8 p.m.  I took advantage of the darkness to go across the street and look up at my Christmas tree all lit up in the window.  A snazzy hotel just opened up over there and I sneaked up into their parking garage for the first time to get a good view.  I'm grateful that I had the chance to see its sparkly beauty from the opposite vantage point.  If things had gone as planned today, I would have walked during the day, and missed it.

Will she really be able to see places like this?!!

Meg's flight turned into a train ride at the last minute.  Even though the airline didn't call to let us know that it was too windy to land in Newark, we figured out their sneaky ways and made it to the station without a moment to spare.  No one panicked and even my son's puppy got to stand on the platform to wave good-bye.  The plane from New Jersey left without a hitch.

It was kind of empty in the apartment when I got in from my walk.  I'll miss her around here.  Mostly though, I'm so excited for her and proud of her for devising this whole adventure that I don't feel sad or lonely at all.  Kids are like kites and it is a joyous, sacred moment when you get to let them go in such a grand manner. 

Plus, she's lived abroad before and I know she'll be back in May.

Up and down

When I started out on today's walk, it was all sunny and 60 degrees.  By the time I turned around to head for home, the sky was filled with heavy, dark clouds and it started to rain a few minutes after I got in the door.

My energy levels are equally inconsistent.  Today I'm super tired and achy, so I give myself extra points for walking anyways.  And I'm going to spend the rest of the day reading, in the hopes that tomorrow I'll feel all peppy again.