I have been getting out more, suddenly.  Last Sunday I was out walking with a new friend and managed to complete 6 miles.  It was a neat walk.  We walked around a lake and then walked into a neighborhood and walked all over it.  There were some gentle ups and downs.  We were talking so much I didn't even notice where I was walking.  I tried last night to find the place and found it by chance.  I parked at Monmouth Park and walked over the hill and Wa La there it was, the lake.  I headed out over the hill but as I got to the lake it got real cold and I didn't have anything with me.  This was a real impromptu walk.  I tried to push through it but decided I was getting too cold and headed back.  I only got in a couple of miles.  But now I know where I was.  There is a shorter way to get there and I will try to find that one this week end.

I will be doing new work starting next week.  I will be working at home.  Not the best for exercise.  Therefore, I will have to create new ways to get in some exercise during the day.  I started an Insanity exercise routine yesterday as well.  We will see how well I do with that.  If it is too rough I decided I will just do what I can and not worry about being perfect.  The biggest challenge I have is doing exercise.  That is one of the reasons I want to walk the Camino.  My problem is I don't like doing it alone therefore I talk myself out of it easily. But, I want to have the experience of the walk, see the country, learn some Spanish, meet people and just be out there walking every day with nothing else to do but forced walking.  I have no idea how far I will get or even if I have what it takes to finish it.  I have been so stuck in my home most of my life by circumstances that I am not sure what will happen.  BUT, I might just make it all the way and I might just have an amazing time, and I might just make some new friends and I might......  It is all these' mights' that keep me interested.  

Life is a funny thing.   The more I learn the less I know.  I keep thinking 'I got it'.  I turn around to apply it and crap,  I don't have it yet so off I go to learn more.  I am getting to the place where I am surrendering again and just deciding that I will never have what I want.  I have been trying for 64 years and it just hasn't worked.  I have had the money to do this trip twice and both times things happened that kept me from going. So now I am trying again.  I do know the let go and it will come to you but don't really believe that statement any more, I have tried it too many times and failed.  The things that matter to me just don't seem to be in my life, it is like the universe says tough shit B you can't have it no matter how much you try.  Then I say I'll show you and head out to make it happen, only to be defeated again.  So much for my soap box.

I was thinking the other day as the weather switched from the 80s to the 50s, how much I hated this when I lived in Vermont.  I was happy to move to Florida and see the sun every day.  Then the day finally came when the heat and humidity got to me.  I headed west and have been enjoying the cooler, dryer weather.  And, I have found joy in the weather changes.  Maybe because I like to bundle up in warm clothes and snuggle so this cold weather feels good to me now.  I am finding the hot weather is not the hot of North Carolina.  It doesn't seem to bother me the same.  It is not as intense nor as long.  Of course, August will probably be more like North Carolina.  I am waiting to see how my first summer in Colorado goes. When I visited last summer the pool was freezing for me but maybe this year it will be better.

Time for my insanity work out and then take the grand dog out.  Later everyone.

Buen Camino
b

Dealing with Challenges of Life

Part of the view from the viewing deck at Sky Ranch in Sedona Arizona

It has been such an interesting thing moving to Colorado so I could get out in the country to hike and get ready for my new body.  Make it happen.  But there seems to have been one thing after another that has kept me from as much exercise as I anticipated.  From having such a sever blood loss that my arms and legs didn't work because there wasn't enough blood to work them.  Interesting thing about that.  The Doctor gave me no indication that this would happen and gave me no advise.  Now with hind sight I am wondering how come he didn't address this.  Could it be because I didn't have insurance?  Hum!  It does make one wonder.  I had to figure it out, figure out how to heal it and do it myself.  Thanks Doc.

Well, the long and short of it is I was in recovery for a long time and then I had to go to work because the hospital and doctor bills wiped out my savings.  This brought about a new adventure.  I worked on the top floor and walked up 4 flights to get there.  I went up and down anywhere from 3 to 9 times a day, that's 24 to 72 flights half up and half down.  My mind had to learn a whole new system and get back into working after many years out of work.  I was exhausted at the end of the day, both mentally and physically.  Then I had to move.  I ended up in an interesting living arrangement, I am a long way form walking paths and the shortness of income kept me from driving around to find paths or trials.  If I was a negative thinker I would think the world was conspiring against me, but alas it is just life.

The weather has changed and spring is coming in with a bang, heat and all.  So I am about to learn how to hike in the dry heat.  I feel a lot better and am inwardly inspiring myself.  Now all I have to do is get beyond my mind and get my legs moving. 

Things have changed a lot as I have gotten older.  I don't have any disease and am pretty healthy.  No colds this winter.  But some aches and pains that I keep pushing through.  It is amazing to me that my mind is in one place and my body is in another.  I am trying to get them to get together again.  Maybe it is because I carry more weight then I should.  But whatever it is I have decided to keep pushing on and believing that if I just don't quit it will all work out and I will accomplish my goals.

If you want to visit a great place take this little town in Arizona called Sedona.

This is where I stay when I am there "Sky Ranch"

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The top picture is part of the view from the motel.  It was a bit foggy so the picture wasn't as bright as I would have preferred.  Here are a few more pics:

I haven't been writing as I did in the past as this move did not bring what I had anticipated.  I have found myself limited by health first and then time.  The place where I now live has further limited me.  I tried with all I had to get a rental in town so I could be out on my bike and walking daily but it didn't work and I am stuck out of town just off a main highway and the walking is severely limited here (there is no place to put my bike so it isn't here it is being stored).  My jobs are temporary and my income goes up and down, sometimes by 1/3, again limiting me.  So here I am today finally talking about this knowing full well all you successful people will be saying to yourselves things like "just go do it", 'She's just quitting" etc etc. But when you are in the middle of the country with only major highways around that bring more health problems then they solve with all that exhaust and your income in so low that you can only afford enough gas to get back and forth to work, life creates a new set of obstacles to overcome.

I dream of a place in town, a permanent job with enough income so I can do something other than just go to work.  Until then I continue with what I am able to do.

Buen Camino
b