New year, new opportunities

New year, new stuff !!!

Good grief. 2020. It sounds so very futuristic to a person born in 1955, who read 1984 (George Orwell) thinking it was so very far in the future.

Anyway.

Last week, I saw something like this:

So that is toast, with avocado and bananas (!), lime zest and juice and a drizzle of honey plus red pepper flakes.

At first, I thought “Ewww” … but then I read the article and watched the video … mostly drawn by the bread in the lead photo!

The article and the video

And I was so taken by Apollonia Poilane’s passion for her craft of bread baking and the story of how she took the reins of the bakery at a VERY young age, that I tried the recipe for Avocado tartine with banana and lime!

And I LOVED it! Additionally, it is a nutritional powerhouse. I bought Apollonia’s book as well. It is both a beautiful and poignant story as well as what look to be wonderful recipes.

Ultimately, it is yet another lesson in being open to new things.

Other new baking things include:

Pumpernickel Sourdough. This turned out to be the best pumpernickel bread that I’ve had in ages!!

Einkorn Cardamom-Cinnamon naturally leavened (sourdough) rolls. Einkorn was new to me last year and it is my favorite heirloom whole grain. It worked wonderfully in this roll recipe.

Still on food, but I’ve shared before the “Souper Cubes” I like for freezing 1 cup (souper cube) portions of many things: cooked meats, beans, rice, broths …

That is chicken, shredded carrots and black beans. The very cool thing is that a cube fits in a half pint mason jar for thawing …

The freezer is this solo human’s friend and “Souper cubes” add to the ease.

New things in my personal tech experience…

DJI Osmo Action Camera … sometimes called the GoPro “killer”. Whatever. I dove into the action arena with the DJI Osmo Action.

It’s tiny!

Video is it’s strong point.

On a “selfie stick” … I also bought a gimbal, but am struggling to find time to get that set up … so meanwhile, the stick.

Unlike the GoPro, the Osmo has a front camera :)

Stay tuned … for maybe a bit. In addition to getting all of the hardware up and going, I have to spend more time learning about the editing software. SO.MUCH.GOOD.STUFF.

So.

Leaving you with some scenery …

Lovely light.

Me and the mountains!

Auggie in sunshine :)

Emmett in the snowy woods.

New Year, New Stuff.

Always keep learning and exploring!

What did I do with my 365 opportunities?

Wow.

I am embarrassed to say that I squandered a good many of them …

I allowed panic and fear to take more time than it should have!

I did spend time learning new things and exploring possibilities. And certainly, I enjoyed a different pace.

But, in hindsight, I wish I had done more.

However, the past is irretrievable so as 2019 draws to a close, I look to the 365 opportunities of 2020 and resolve to make the most of each day.

Meanwhile, the last day of 2019 ends with beautiful snow:


Happy, happy 2020 to all from me, Auggie and Emmett!

For the love of the moon, the mountains and being outside

Right now sunrise is 8:14 a.m. and sunset is 4:42 p.m.

And the sun is on its low southern arc so dawn and dusk are short.

I feed Emmett his supper about 3:45 and then we head out at 4:15 so we have a good, long time for a last daylight walk and play time.

Today, it started gray and foggy.

It snowed.

By noon it cleared.

This evening was stunning: incredible light and including an 89% waxing gibbous moon rising as the sun was making a fiery descent.

Emmett, Auggie and I had made a loop and saw the moon. I only had my phone so beat feet to the house and got my big camera.

Back to the view points on the northeast edge of my property…

My favorite!

It was worth the back and forth. I enjoyed extra time with the beautiful views as well as extra time playing with Emmett on a gorgeous evening.

First week of December

Good grief … last week was Thanksgiving weekend and here we are just a wee bit over 2 weeks until Christmas!

Life is now back to our normal :) … as in working, being paid timely (all is caught up and resolved YEA!!!) and we had a scrumptious Thanksgiving dinner of turkey and stuff … AND hung stockings and decked halls.

That UCLA Bruin was a gift from friends many years ago. It has survived Karl, Gus, Bob, Bear and now Auggie and Emmett…

… hopefully. Emmett has “borrowed” it from under the tree on several many occasions. Thankfully, no harm done to the Bruin. I sent a photo to my coworkers who both attended UCLA … wondering how it had survived all of these years, and received this reply:


It has survived because it is ‘Bruin Strong’.
 
Go Bruins! Fight! Fight! Fight!

I believe I have mentioned that I love my work group and am very grateful for the team that I work with. And am grateful for work that I love that allows me to live in a place that I love and enjoy the outdoors with my pets!

So … the weather ??? After an early start to Winter … in September … some snow, some cold and now it is warm-ish but gray and low cloud deck.

So we start the dark mornings with coffee and electric fire …

…and general togetherness.

But the length of the dark mornings often leads to a bit of pestering play :)

This week, though… a new toy for outside time:

Although I played softball into my 40’s: third and then first base … my throwing acumen has seriously degenerated.

Emmett LOVES to play fetch.

So, this launch toy. It is great fun! I’m not sure which of us has more fun.

The ring goes a good distance, but it does float! Emmett is still learning about how it goes, compared to a stick or the throw toys we have played with.

BIG.FUN!!

I hope to take some video!

Meanwhile, we enjoy some spectacular color: snow up high, dark cloud background and some gold from a sun trying to break through…

Good, good times enjoying the work and play routine … the holiday vibes and just generally being beyond grateful that all has worked out to continue as we were.

Lesson(s) in humility (and patience)

So.

I was back to work in late October and able to submit an invoice on November 1.

But, some glitches.

AND … here we are the week before Thanksgiving and I am skint! No cash for turkey :) !!! A large receivable …

Thanks to my local bank, who I have banked with here in Montana for 25 years … a small bridge loan with the Jeeper (17 year old Jeep … good grief!) as collateral, I will have turkey money on Monday.

And, I have news that the glitches re my invoice might be resolved as well … pending key persons being NOT on “vacation” pre-TDay.

Still … it looks to be that all will be resolved by early December latest.

Good grief.

I have had embarrassing and somewhat humbling/humiliating conversations with my creditors. Thankfully, 44 years of good behavior has paid off and to a “man” (bank, etc.) they have all said: “oh, a one off, we trust you”.

Still … RATS! Mostly, I am mad at myself. At the start of the hiatus, I believed in the 30 days and continued on my normal path. Many things I could have/should have done differently.

Water under the bridge.

I cannot change the past.

What I CAN do is learn from it … hopefully!!

And never fear … my pantry is full of food for me, for Emmett and Auggie. No one is going without.

But, I do know and maybe now better understand, what many, many people … without the resources I have … might be experiencing. It gives me a new perspective on food insecurity, housing insecurity … INSECURITY in general. It is not a comfortable place to be.

So.

Maybe I needed to learn a lesson in insecurity that I did not think I needed to learn.

Perspective changed.

I hope some lesson(s) learned.

This Thanksgiving will have meaning unlike any Thanksgivings in my past.

Gorgeous Autumn and back to work

I was told last Monday that I would have a new contract with my “bread and butter” client. I don’t have it yet, but we are back to work tomorrow and hopefully all will be “signed, sealed and delivered” this week!

Crazy! July 1-October 21. Nothing played out as I was told. Process was beyond frustrating. A large part of the challenge was that I was not able to speak to 2 of my best friends: my work colleagues … to avoid collusion in the process. Outside of my work group, I do not have any “tech” buddies as in people with who I can discuss programming and tech gadgets/paradigms. So, in addition to the frustrating process, I felt somewhat isolated from the technical. Not completely, as I was doing some other work and learning in conjunction with another consultant … we just had to avoid discussion of the process details. But, the need to be careful in communication so as to avoid even the appearance of collusion … it was a bit of a strain.

Thankfully, hopefully, over.

And I will say that 95% of the time, I was in a good place of enjoying a different routine, enjoying a VERY relaxed schedule, enjoying exploring “what if” the contract did not happen and just enjoying what turned out to be a very pleasant summer and despite 2 “Winter storms”, a gorgeous start to Autumn.

The things that helped keep me in the good place: Auggie and Emmett and time outside with them!!!, the opportunity to learn some new things, a few RV visitors that got me talking about everything and Phillipians 4:6


Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God which surpasses all understanding will keep your heart and mind in Christ Jesus.

And then 4:8


Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.

So.

And now, here we are.

The owl was right. Well, I knew all would be well. What I didn’t know was what shape “well” would take and that is the uncertainty that in those 5% of the time … the kind of panic time … was difficult.

And overall, really, the worst case was not life threatening to any of us (Auggie, Emmett and me). There were and are fall back options.

I learned an incredible amount of things that I thought I knew :)

But primarily: count my blessings, enjoy what I have and my dear cat and dog and the beauty of where I am: EVERY.SINGLE.DAY.

And be grateful, always.