For my 37th birthday I gave myself the gift of healthy aging.
I started running and lifting weights.
I started eating more of what I always knew I should eat.
I lost 20 pounds.
And 11 years later I am as active as I was in my 30′s. I still run 5ks and despite a noticeable shift in my metabolism, I have kept off the weight.
For my 47th birthday I gave myself the gift of giving up the bottle. Continue reading
1. A good morning greeting from my good friend. Such a nice way to start the day.
2. Morning coffee and this week’s photo challenge. When I saw this photo and how messy my desktop has gotten again, I went on a cleaning spree. Staying organized is a constant process for me! Continue reading
“I’d rather have a mind opened by wonder than one closed by belief.” Gerry Spence
Light Echoes from V838 Mon
What caused this outburst of V838 Mon? For reasons unknown, star V838 Mon’s outer surface suddenly greatly expanded with the result that it became the brightest star in the entire Milky Way Galaxy in January 2002. Then, just as suddenly, it faded. A stellar flash like this had never been seen before — supernovas and novas expel matter out into space. Although the V838 Mon flash appears to expel material into space, what is seen in the above image from the Hubble Space Telescope is actually an outwardly moving light echo of the bright flash.
Image and text from Nasa Images of the Day.
Click here to enjoy other spectacular photos.
My cart at Lowe’s is full of the plants and flowers I’m adding to my garden, as well as the chalkboard paint I’m using on the door in my new home gym I’m calling “Average Charlotte’s.” The name is a nod to the movie DodgeBall. If you haven’t seen it, watch it this weekend. Here’s a link to it on Amazon, where you can rent it for $3. It’s silly and will make you laugh and well, laughing is a really good thing. You know, I think I might just watch it again after all this work is done. 
Seldom do we get such a clear picture of what our future holds, but at this particular moment, while taking this photo with my not-so-smart phone, I saw exactly what this weekend has in store for me.
Check out other Future Tense posts at Weekly Photo Challenge here.
The white picket fence I’ve always wanted is up, the deck I envisioned in my mind is built, the four cubic yards of gravel that make the patio and parking court is dispersed and the first 30 plants are in the ground, the results, at least according to Blackberry, are spectacular!
And me? Well I am pooped but pumped.
13 years we have lived in our house and to see what I have always imagined come to life is exciting and well, it reminds me in this “I want it and I want it now” world that when we plan and prioritize and then apply a blend of effort and patience we really can have it all, in time…
“And indeed there will be time
For the yellow smoke that slides along the street
Rubbing its back upon the window-panes,
There will be time, there will be time
To prepare a face to meet the faces that you meet;
There will be time to murder and create,
And time for all the works and days of hands
That lift and drop a question on your plate;
Time for you and time for me,
And time yet for a hundred indecisions,
And for a hundred visions and revisions,
Before the taking of toast and tea.”T.S. Eliot, The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock
