T is for Today

 Today is going to be filled with...

Tissues, Throat lozenges, and Tea.

Turns out that it wasn't allergies after all. 

I have a Terrible cold. :(

Until next time...

S is for Spring

Things are constantly changing outside in the springtime. Here's another update of what my Maryland yard looks like this fourth week of spring. 

When I planted these tulips, I planted yellow ones with them. The yellow ones didn't come back after the second year.

This late bloomer is the only daffodil that is left.

Violet

All of the lilacs are transitioning from buds to blooms.

The crabapple tree is in full bloom. The lower limbs have been removed to make mowing easier, so I took a picture from a position where I could reach. This is the case for most trees in our yard.

Virginia bluebells

We planted this apple tree 5 years ago as a small stick. It has produced apples the last couple of years, but the deer have gotten to them before we do. The deer also eat the branches. Hopefully, this will be the year we harvest apples to eat.

The blossoms on the sour cherry are starting to fade.

However, the neighbor's ornamental cherry, located at the edge of our yard, is in full bloom.

Viburnum

Dogwood. Another tree with no lower limbs, so it's hard for me to take a picture.

This dianthus mound always amazes me.

The grape hyacinths are still going strong.

Wallflowers

A few things I planted in our vegetable patch have sprouted, including these peas.

Radishes. The turnips are also poking their heads above the ground. The picture I got of those was blurry, but they look just like the radishes. :)

Spinach

Not a great picture, but I didn't want to disturb this mama chickadee to get a better photo. She has 5 eggs under her.

Until next time...

R is for R.S.V.P.

I think most people are familiar with R.S.V.P., which is typically found at the bottom of most invitations. It's French for "Repondez s'il vous plaît," meaning respond please to the invitation. In other words, let me know if you're coming or not. It's aggravating when you're the host of something and people don't respond. You don't know how to plan. I've learned over the years to plan for the number of 'yeses' I receive. There are always some people who say yes but don't show up, and some who don't respond but do show up anyway. I add 10% to that for good measure, and it usually works out. 

I'm sure there are many good excuses why people don't R.S.V.P., but the most common one, I think, is that they forgot. I try to respond promptly, but I have been known to wait to the last minute when I forgot. However, there may be another reason that I discovered recently. I was talking with Wally, asking if he was going to go to a family function. He said yes, and then I said he needed to RSVP. He said he didn't need to because you only needed to tell people that you aren't coming. What?! Maybe this was a generational thing, so I asked Theo what he thought it meant. He agreed with me that you need to let the host know one way or the other whether you are coming or not. However, he said that many invitations are now made over social media, and the rules can be looser.

So, what does RSVP mean to you? Do you think I have an old-fashioned view of it?

Until next time...

Q is for Questions

There are limitless questions that I could explore here, but I'm going shallow with the ones I'm going to ask and answer. These are a couple of questions that are often asked of celebrities.

What was your first celebrity crush? Billy Mumy from the TV show Lost in Space. He played Will Robinson, the young son of the family who were lost in space. It was an unbelievable, silly drama, but it was popular in its time. When I was in 4th grade, we played Lost in Space on the playground and acted out scenes from the show. I wrote away and got an autographed picture of Billy. The only person I ever did that for. I also had a crush on David Cassidy of the Partige Family, but did not write away for his picture.

What posters did you have on your wall as a teenager? I shared a room with my sister, and the only thing I remember on the wall was a picture of Hank Aaron, a baseball player for the Atlanta Braves who broke Babe Ruth's home run record. We followed the Pittsburgh Pirates at that time, so we were aware of players, especially those in the National League with the Pirates. Aaron was called Hammerin' Hank and some of his hitting records still hold to today. 

And now for the question, no one may be interested in but me,

How did your exercise go last week?

 Since retirement, I have focused on getting more exercise. I post weekly updates here to hold myself accountable and see my progress.

I developed a cold last week, which slowed me down on my exercise goals. But I did some kind of movement most days, and I'm happy with the effort.

Saturday, April 12, 2025

Free Day: I didn't attend a class at the gym this morning due to an eye appointment. But as it turns out, I had the day wrong, and it's next week. Oh, well. I wasn't particularly active today. Theo came over during the afternoon to cook (chicken tetrazzini), and the cold, rainy weather suggested that that time on the couch with a book and some TV was the right thing to do.

Sunday, April 13, 2025

LIIT (Low-Intensity Interval Training): I met a new instructor today who is a favorite of Ward's, and I see why. She almost made the intense workout bearable. Besides the usual shoulder and leg work, there was more focused ab work than I get sometimes. I was tired from class for the rest of the day, but not so much that I just wanted to lie around, as I had on other occasions. That is either because I have learned to pace myself better or my fitness is improving. Or maybe a little of both.

Monday, April 14, 2025

Strong and Balanced: I felt some soreness today from yesterday's class, especially in my abs, but it was not too bad. This instructor continues to find ways to make the class fun. Today, we did the YMCA dance with weighted balls. She reminds me of when I was doing storytimes and was always trying to think of different ways to do things. The important thing is that after LIIT classes before, I've been too sore to do anything the next day, but not today. That's progress.

Tuesday, April 15, 2025

Line Dancing: I wasn't feeling the class today. My legs were sore from the last couple of days of exercise, and I fatigued quickly. Near the end, I was getting a headache and ready to be done. I think all the pollen is wearing me down, but I managed to get a decent amount of movement.

Wednesday, April 15, 2025

Free Day: It turns out that it was maybe more than pollen wearing me down. I have a mild chest cold, so I took it easy today. I got in about 1/2 hour of ballroom practice. Nothing vigorous, but it did get me up off the couch.

Thursday, April 16, 2025

Walking: Until I see how this cold is going to play out, I didn't think that I should do anything at the gym. However, I walked extra aisles while shopping and took a neighborhood walk later. I ended up with 12,000 steps for the day, so I'm happy with that.

Friday, April 17, 2025

Free Day: I usually go to Strong and Balanced today, but decided not to because of my cold. The class isn't too intense, so I probably would have done okay with it, but I didn't think it was the right thing to do for the other participants. I certainly wouldn't want someone with a cough like mine standing next to me. Instead, Ward and I went to a park with a historic house, hoping to get some exercise by walking. It turns out the park wasn't that big, and we spent most of the time in the mansion learning about its history. Interesting, but not much movement. In the evening, I took a one-mile walk around the neighborhood at a decent pace, and hills had me huffing and puffing. It wasn't a big movement day, but I'm happy with it because I took the evening walk, even though I didn't want to.

Until next time...

P is for Plastic Surgery

Plastic surgery might be better referred to as cosmetic surgery or perhaps reconstructive surgery, but I already had this planned for P, so plastic surgery it is. But, I'm going to say cosmetic surgery from here on out. Simply put, cosmetic surgery is defined as surgery performed for aesthetic purposes rather than medical health.

Recently, I heard of a cosmetic procedure that I found hard to believe. It's called Cinderella Surgery and involves altering feet so they will fit better into pointy, stiletto heels. The surgery can shorten or lengthen your toes, shave the bone on the sides of your feet to narrow them, and sometimes fat is injected into the ball of the foot, allowing you to stand longer in your heels.

While Cinderella Surgery is new to me, it's been around for a while. All the foot procedures mentioned above are sometimes used for painful medical conditions, but I'm not sure when they started being used for people who want to wear their heels for a long period of time. The obvious first question is, why don't you just change your shoes before you undergo dangerous surgery to wear shoes that weren't meant for human feet? 

I can't imagine wearing shoes shaped like this, so why do women do it? First of all, some designers said it was fashionable. Also, supposedly, they make your legs look longer and slimmer, your foot look smaller, and your bust and butt bigger. In other words, they make you look sexier. 

While high heels have been around for a long time, stilettos gained popularity in the 1950s with the advent of technology that allowed for a steel shaft to be inserted into the heel of the shoe. While they have always been around since then, stilettos have gone in and out of fashion, with the current trend starting about 25 years ago. It seems like it's about time for a change.

While this all seemed ridiculous to me, I took a moment and realized that people undergo all kinds of procedures for aesthetic reasons. A few that I've heard of are face lifts, breast augmentation, tummy tucks, butt implants/lifts and all kinds of fillers. I guess that each person has their reasons. If I'm being fair, I'm not the one to judge what someone else does with their body. I just don't always understand it.

Until next time...

Note: I recognize that many of these procedures are performed as reconstructive surgeries, not solely for aesthetic reasons. I'm only talking about the cosmetic ones. 

https://www.womenshealthmag.com/health/a19900354/cosmetic-foot-surgery/ 2014

https://www.mymed.com/aesthetic-medicine/cinderella-surgery

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stiletto_heel