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As I was sitting on the bus, returning home after my dental appointment and a bit of grocery shopping, I felt the wave of joy I often experience while spending time in a completely different culture. The young, Panamanian woman sitting next to me is nursing her infant. Looking out the window I see dogs criss-crossing the streets and chickens walking about freely. The Ngöbe women in their beautifully colored, clean and starched dresses are walking through the streets with their many children in tow.

The driver made four, out-of-the way stops during this trip. First, he stopped at a little house off the road, and a young, teenage girl came running out of the house to greet him. I could only assume that he was her father, as he gently brushed her hair back from her forehead and patted her head. They also looked remarkably alike. Stop two was to retrieve a huge bag of oranges from an old guy coming down a dirt road. Next, he stopped at a house, went up the steps, disappeared for a bit and then returned to the bus. His house?? No idea. The next stop was to accept. through the driver’s window, a large, rolled bundle of leaves. Not sure if they were banana leaves or not. My next assumption was that he was collecting these items for a Christmas celebration. I’m imaging an animal of some sort being wrapped in those leaves and roasted with the oranges. Just a guess.

Larry just invited me to dinner Friday night at 5:00 pm. I am going to Betty’s at 1:00 pm for our holiday celebration lunch with “the gang.” So, looks like a fun Friday in store. Too bad Gloria isn’t here yet. She’s not arriving until, I think, mid-January. Gloria’s a trooper. She’s about 75 and last year had to return to the states due to a heart condition. She eventually had surgery, went to her Maine home to recuperate, and now she’s planning her trip back here.

So, the sleep thing… This was last night:

I stayed up watching videos (Severance – very strange) and went to bed at midnight. Even though I only got 5h36m of sleep, I actually felt better when I got up, than I did the day before, with much more sleep. So, I’m working on building my sleep drive. Right now I would definitely love a nap, but I’m going to continue with my day. I bought chamomile tea today at the grocery store.

I bought a shot glass today at La Reyna. I plan to use this to experiment with Jolene’s bubbles/balloons. No luck yet on finding an Instapot. I’m going to message a woman on FB Marketplace here. She’s a bit of a haul for me, but perhaps she comes into Boquete on occasion.

Yesterday’s lunch at Barbara and Murray’s was fun. It was great seeing Debra again. Sounds like she’s going to give it another go here. Her partner, Pascal, is in the process of developing his property with cabins. Not sure. It sounds complicated. I’ve never been to their place, which is, by all reports, fabulous. But it is very remote and hard to access. Not in my plans. Well, and I haven’t been invited… there is that.

A couple of friends reading the blog correctly questioned my use of hot chocolate. I guess I was in denial, but, yes, chocolate has caffeine, not as much as coffee, but for me, right now, not a good idea.

So, I remembered drinking golden milk a number of years ago, and I made this last night.

It’s milk, maple syrup, cinnamon, cardamom and vanilla. It was very good, but didn’t make any difference with my sleep.

This is what last night looked like:

Although the cumulative time showed that I slept a bit over 7 hours, I wouldn’t call it good sleep. As Romiszewski suggests, I’m going to stay up much later in order to increase my sleep drive.

I remember as a kid, my mom making me go to bed at 7:30. She said I needed more sleep than other people. Maybe not true any longer. My plan now is to stay up until midnight. I’m going to spend the late hours watching videos. I have a number of titles on my to-watch list, so I’ll do it then. I don’t need to be sharp during those times, just awake. I was so tempted to take the Ambien last night, but I promised myself I would give this at least two weeks. I think this is just one week. I also am spending time just passively listening to Romiszewski during my day. I like to have her voice of encouragement in my head.

I’m trying something new with watercolors. Jolene sent me this Reel from Instagram, and I told her I would give it a try. I can’t embed an Instagram link, but this URL will take you there.

https://www.instagram.com/reel/Cjv4XTUJe_H/

I have obviously not mastered it yet. I’m going to try to find a shot glass or something similar with a rounded lip. To make mine, I used the lid from a spice jar, but it didn’t work very well.

Yesterday, as I was looking for watercolor paper, I came across a number of pages of my early attempts at calligraphy. It’s good to look back on occasion.

Today:

I’m going to Barbara and Murray’s this afternoon for lunch. Debra and Pascual will be joining us. I made a puttanesca.

I recently finished reading Walking Through Walls by Phillip Smith. It’s a memoir in which Smith tells the story of growing up with his father, Lew Smith, who was a popular psychic healer. I’ve never really been convinced by people who call themselves psychic or mediums. Many of them just seem to be stage performers, and I’m always amazed how they continue babbling on when their “recipient” is shaking their head and not connecting. But this book is creating curiosity. As we read the book, we see Smith (the author) go from resistant, skeptical teenager, to a respectful adult. He shares firsthand accounts of witnessing his father’s skill.

After reading the book, I started researching this skill, which is now being called energy healing. I tried a series of Reiki sessions in 2015, when I was going through a transition. The therapist actually fell asleep a couple of times during our sessions. I wasn’t convinced, and I never felt any change in my system. But some of the videos I’ve been watching lately are starting to make me question this. Stay tuned.

I did my usual walk into town this morning and met Cathy Anne in the central square. I call her Pewaukee Cathy because her family owned a greenhouse in Pewaukee. The building is still there, but her family no longer owns it.

We went to the Buckle and Trip for a coffee and tea. I was surprised that the coffee was awful. My first experience with bad coffee here. Perhaps it is something new that I’m not used to, but I had to leave it, barely touched.

Cathy is still healing from an accident in July when she was hit by one of the town buses as she crossed a street. She seems to be doing well. Love to talk to Cathy about books and movies. Knitting and watching movies and series is her favorite. She’s also a fabulous cook.

I didn’t notice it, but Cathy pointed out to me that many of the new Christmas decorations in town are made out of plastic bottles. I think that most everything in the photo behind us is made from recycled plastic. So Panamanian.

Jerry stopped down yesterday and brought me banana bread.

He also asked if I like lamb. I said yes, and he told me that he just bought too much at the store recently and was hoping I would come to dinner and help them out. I’m realizing that this guy has a unique sense of humor. I’ll like him even more when he fixes the toilet.

Linda just came down to ask me if I could hear the bass beat of music. Yes, I could hear it. She told me that it is driving her crazy. She can’t sleep at night because it goes on until 2 in the morning. I suggested earplugs and was hoping I had an extra pair to give her, but I couldn’t find them. I must have brought an extra pair. I’ll keep looking.

My sleep experiment is moving along. I feel like I’m back to my pre-Ambien pattern of feeling sleepy, going to bed, and then lying awake for hours. I think I may be going to bed too early. I’m going to see if I can hold out until 11. That’s when the Fitbit shows that I am more steadily asleep. The Fitbit showed that I slept over 9 hours, but the graph was loaded with wakeful moments. I didn’t feel great when I woke up; I don’t feel great right now. I have to stay awake for seven more hours. I think I can do that. I’ve put off my calligraphy and a new painting idea until after I have finished writing for the day. Those activities don’t stress my brain like writing does.

I received a lovely encouragement from my editor, Kathie, yesterday. She said that sometimes a book comes along that she has to just read first and then save the editing for later because she wants to keep reading. That was a fantastic bit of positive reinforcement on her part. Now I think of that instead of the drudgery part. To imagine that someone is experiencing joy from my writing is a true gift. Thanks, Kathie!

Hot chocolate has replaced my nightly wine habit. Getting my protein!

My Ambien-withdrawal program is not progressing as rosily as I had hoped. While reading last night, I felt come over me the sleepiness that Stephanie Romasewski talks about and decided to go to bed at about 9:30. At one point, after what felt like three hours awake, I decided, as she suggests, to get up and do something enjoyable – calligraphy, of course. I never looked at the clock. I just wrote until I felt the sleepiness again and again went to bed. I woke this morning at 7. I looked at my Fitbit. It showed that I actually was in light sleep for 80% of that first period, which actually turned out to be 2 hr and 32 mins. So, I was asleep for 2 hours of that time. The second sleep, I was asleep in less than 15 minutes and slept for 5 h 25 min. Tonight, I’m just going to stay in bed, no matter what and see what happens. I am obviously sleeping more than I think. I wonder if snoring is waking me up. Speaking of which…

I picked up my anti-snore device. It’s actually called a myofunctional sleep appliance. Right, Jolene?

This is a serious device. I’ve been exercising/wearing it for an hour a day for three days so far, and it is quite intense. It feels like it is remolding my maxillary tissue. See that little tab at the top? The exercise is to push on that with the tongue. Doing that creates a suction that pulls the teeth together and pushes the device up. If I relax my mouth, the device slides down, and my mouth is open. When I take the device out, it feels like there is a clump of tissue in the upper corner of each side of the mouth, behind the last molar, at the peak of the cheek. I texted the dentist and told her that I would like to see her after this first week, just to make sure that my mouth looks okay. I thought the device might be too big. She said that’s perfect, just keep your mouth closed the entire 60 minutes. Okay.

Latest calligraphy update. The practices I have been posting here are the same ones that I post to the calligraphy Facebook group. The past couple of days, I have been reviewing my work before I post it, using a red pen to show where I made mistakes. I thought, someday Ash is going to say something, or maybe give a thumbs up. So yesterday, I posted this one:

…and Ash finally commented: “I like the red marks.” You think he could have at least said that my ovals were improved?

I walked into town this morning, and Barbara met me at the bottom of the hill. We came back here for coffee and a “chat,” which lasted 4-1/2 hours. Love that woman. I’m excited about her and Kathy meeting. I know they will hit it off.

This is one of my favorite views as I walk into town:

I had a strange experience here last night. As I was on the couch reading, I heard a clicking sound coming from the kitchen. I got up to investigate and zeroed in on the refrigerator as the source. It sounded like an ice maker was operating, but this refrigerator doesn’t have an ice maker. I unplugged it, and the noise continued. I plugged it back in and decided to just ignore it. As I was walking away I heard a BOOM! It sounded like someone was hitting my front-door window with a pole. I froze in place for a short time and then went to the door and locked it. I turned on the light, looked around a bit and saw nothing. I texted Jerry and asked him if he could come down. He didn’t respond right away. After a number of minutes, I told him to forget it, that everything was fine, but he did come down. He looked around, found nothing going on and left.

This morning, I looked out my front door and saw that one of the banana trees had fallen. I texted Jerry and asked him if a banana tree makes a loud noise like that when it falls. He responded, “Only if there is someone there to hear it.” That got an LOL.

A short time later, I discovered that a 5-pound dumbbell, that I was using to weigh down a book, which was flattening some cards, had fallen to the floor. Yes, that was the boom.

BTW, the refrigerator is fine.

The insect patrol was here today. The spraying feels sort of violent and noxious, but I have to weigh that with the feeling of seeing cockroaches. Spraying is the winner here for me. Barbara and Sally have both told me that they got used to them while living in New York and Chicago. Wisconsin never provided me with this conditioning.

The books I have been reading and listening to lately, Walking Through Walls and Battle for Your Brain, both deal with utilizing the power of the electrical activity of our brains and bodies to heal. I am wondering if this is going to be the healing technology used by Priscilla Chan and Mark Zuckerberg and their new philanthropic organization, CZI. They said their goal is to cure all human disease by the end of this decade. It will be interesting to see how this pans out. I was always a bit skeptical (and also very ignorant) of energy healing, but these books are making me think differently, and it looks like this may be where healthcare is headed. I wonder how the pharmaceutical industry is going to respond to this. Although, I did learn that Zuckerberg bought a company called Control, which deals in this technology. I also learned that 23 and Me is partnered with Glaxo-Smith-Kline. My guess is that the latter will one day be approaching people who had their DNA analyzed by 23 and Me and letting them know about any genetic disease they have that could be treated by their drugs. We’ll see. Always something new.

I cannot believe how long it took me to get to this page! So many things are changing so quickly with security walls. I really dislike the one that asks, “How many bridges or how many motorcycles.” I don’t know! Is that a bridge? No, that’s just steps. Is that motorcycle? No, I think it’s a shadow of a bike that’s being carried on top of a car. Then they send you an email for verification. Then a code to your phone. This is one area where I hope AI will make my life easier.

I was listening to this podcast today with Mo Gawdat. He is the former Chief Business Officer of Google X. I would call him the Eckhart Tolle of technology. He has a very strong spiritual side and has a very hopeful outlook on the future of technology. I plan to listen to this again, especially the last 10 minutes or so where he talks about where AI will be in, I think, eight years. He says AI will be billion(s?) of times more intelligent than normal humans and will also have a code of ethics. “Humanity is an amazing being when judged by its top. The worst of humans are scum. The best of humans are amazing.” Wow! Intelligence AND ethics? How can this be a bad thing?

So, last night was my first night in probably eight years that I didn’t take Ambien before attempting to go to sleep. Did I sleep great? No, not really, but, thanks to my Fitbit, I can see that I slept 6h 45m (I usually sleep 8-10). There was at least one point where I almost gave in and took the Ambien, but I listened to this podcast yesterday, and the attitude of this scientist changed my attitude. She encouraged me to let go of the fear of not sleeping. I won’t get sick or become insomniac, which I remember all too well. Looks like we have a lot to learn about sleep. Fingers crossed.

On Thursday evening I had dinner with part of “the gang.” We went to Panamonte, which is one of my favorite, and, I think, the oldest restaurant in Boquete. Such a treat!

I’m back at my calligraphy practice. I’ve been doing the Daily Challenges on the Copperplate for All Facebook group. The challenges the past couple of months have been names of countries, their populations and capitols. I’m getting to the point where I can almost write all letters without looking at the exemplar. Sort of like learning how to type without looking at the keyboard. Numbers are another story. They are new to me.

I sent my practice to Ash one day about a month ago saying that I didn’t expect feedback but thought he might like to know that I’m still practicing. He said, “I absolutely know you won’t give up. I been seeing your penmanship! I think I see a great amount of confidence in your letterforms! You surely need some working with ovals, but I’m sure with time you will get that under your stride and have command over it!.

By my calculation (he doesn’t keep track), he owes me two sessions. Once I feel like I’m ready, I’ll ask him to give me some feedback.

Jerry texted me yesterday and asked if I liked oatmeal cookies. “Indeed!” These were delicious. I ate them all immediately.

The Best Oatmeal Cookies!

Since blueberries are outrageously expensive, I am enjoying one of my Panamanian favorites with my breakfast. Papaya!!

Yesterday I made yogurt. Unfortunately, I bought skimmed milk. Today it is draining. I prefer Greek style, which is not available in the stores. Piero, the goat farmer, sells it, but it’s hard to get and expensive. So, fingers crossed that this meets my high standards.

I’ve been pondering my daily routine. I usually like to start my day with coffee and calligraphy, followed by other activities, including writing. However, I have discovered that the writing doesn’t always get done. I think, for two reasons: (1) I usually put it off until later, and then I’m usually too tired, and (2) I don’t enjoy it as much as I do the calligraphy, painting or Zentangle.

One of the many things I learned from reading Atomic Habits, is that if you really want to get in the habit of doing something, you have to make it part of your identity. So, I have to say, “I’m the kind of person who writes.” Or, even stronger, “I am a writer.” As I told Kathie: This is tough for me for a number of reasons: (1) I feel like I don’t deserve to call myself a writer. She’s a writer, Joanne is a writer. Kim is a writer. I know, dumb. (2) Right now, at least, I don’t enjoy it as much as I enjoy the other things. AND (3) I’m afraid it will take time away from those things. However, there is a bug in my brain pushing me to write more.

THEN I listened to this podcast with Dr. Shane O’Mara, and he’s talking about how walking fosters writing:

I discussed this all with Kathie at our last meeting and together we came up with a new schedule for my writing. Kathie assured me that she, like many writers, do not feel great joy while writing, but, of course, they love having written. So, I’ll START my day with meditation and a walk and then sit down and start writing.

I know that I’m into delayed gratification, so I will motivate myself knowing that I can look forward to doing the calligraphy and artwork later. I’m pretty sure this all goes back to my conditioning: chores first, then play. So, this is my new, tentative schedule. I started it yesterday, which went very well, and today is Sunday, my day of rest. So, so far we’re doing fine.

7:00 – 8:00	Coffee/Meditate
8:00 – 9:30	Walk/Audible/Shop
9:30 – 11:30	Write
11:30-1:30	Exercise
1:30 – 2:30	Calligraphy/Podcast
2:30 – 4:30	Cards/Open Time
4:30 – 6:30	Dinner/Spanish
6:30 – 9:00	Read/Movies
9:00 – 10:00	Bedtime

I spent a good part of the day today getting my work area set up outside. Linda, the landlady, was concerned that I was doing this and warned me about the wind. I heeded her warning, and set everything up so that it is easy to take inside at night.

Now I’m thinking I might ask Jerry if he has a tarp. I just felt a few raindrops, and I don’t want to have to rush if it rains. Last year, when I was higher up the hill, it rarely rained. As a matter of fact, I cannot remember a single day of rain. But Linda said it does rain here, so I want to be prepared. There are a number of microclimates here, so, although it didn’t rain up there, it may very well be the case here.

Shortly after I wrote the above, I sent Jerry a text and asked if he, per chance, had a tarp. He showed up in less than five minutes with one. It started to rain almost immediately. I quickly covered my spot with the tarp and came inside – Bob’s yer uncle!

The tarp just blew off!! Okay, a redo…with rocks holding down the tarp; so far, so good. It gets incredibly windy here. I remember one year having to put my full body weight against my front door in order to be able to close it against the wind. And people have a hard time getting out of their cars.

I spent part of my calligraphy time this morning making this for Jenn and John. I redid it SO many times. Who would guess there were so many spellings for “birthday.” I kept getting it wrong.

I walked into town yesterday and visited a dentist. Her name is Khristel Gutierrez. She is the daughter and sister of the Fernandos I talked about earlier. I texted her shortly after I arrived and asked if she made the dental appliances that prevent snoring. She said she did, and they are $350. I planned to get one from my own dentist in Spring, and the cost was $650. Yes! Dra. Gutierrez assessed me for size and will order it from Panama City. I have to see her four times.

She said that the first week is just exercising with it. Something about manipulating a small ball with the tongue. She told me that she has had very good results with many patients reporting improved sleep. Hope so. I’m almost as annoyed with my own snoring as I used to be with Dan’s!

Now I want to work on getting off the Ambien. I’m only using about 2.5 mg per night, and I realize that this is likely psychological, but I don’t think my doctor is going to continue refilling my prescription. She told me that the medical community is changing their policy on this, not prescribing for people over 65. I’ve heard that cognitive behavioral therapy can help with this, so I’ll give that a try.

The walk into town is fairly easy – all downhill. The only issue is that the road is very narrow, and there are no sidewalks. I was happy I walked over 5 miles yesterday, and my foot felt fine. It’s been bothering me since I felt a snap while walking in October. Diane, my massage therapist, thinks it’s an inflamed tendon. I’m continuing to massage it with Tiger Balm. I’m hoping to walk most days while here. Dan and I are planning to do a Camino in May, so this will be my prep.

Couple of photos from yesterday. This yellow tree was so vibrant against the blue sky. And this is, by far, the biggest beetle I have ever seen. The photo may be hard to judge, but it was at least four inches.

I did a little grocery shopping at Super Baru and found that some of the freezers and shelves were a bit sparse. I was able to get everything I needed for a couple of days. Nancy picked me up, so she could give me the table. We stopped at Sarah’s vegetable stand so I could get some garlic. I walked in and asked the guy sitting at the cash register if they had “ajo.” He said yes and pointed down the aisle to his left. I walked down the aisle and saw only fruit. He asked again what I wanted. Again I said, “ajo.” This time he pointed to a back wall. He said he thought I was asking for an “apple.” He laughed and said he wasn’t expecting me to be speaking Spanish. So, to him, ajo sounded like apple.

Nancy stopped in for a while after she brought me home with my table and groceries. We had a nice chat. Tomorrow I’m going to go to Lady’s Place for a pedicure, and then I’ll be able to visit with Kathy. She lives upstairs from there. I also heard that Betty was finally able to get a propane tank, so the holiday dinner plans are underway. It should be fun.

Barbara is still not feeling well. We might get together this weekend.

I made a pretty good beans-and-rice dish yesterday. Wish I could have gotten cilantro. Today I’m going to have some steamed calabaza (pumpkin squash) and cabbage on the side.

I arrived safe and sound in Boquete on December 1. After all of the doomsday warnings about not being able to travel to Boquete because of the social unrest in regard to a proposed copper mine, it all settled down a few days before my arrival date. There are still some gas, propane and food shortages in town, but it sounds like things are getting back to normal quickly.

Fernando’s son, also Fernando – and just as handsome, picked me up in David without a hitch. We had a pleasant conversation en route to Boquete, filling me in on his and his father’s new construction enterprise. Sounds like business was slightly affected by the inability to get supplies for a while, but he sounded hopeful.

We stopped at Nancy’s to pick up my three plastic tubs of supplies and arrived here at my new place, The Rainbow House, at about 7 pm. It’s a long day. Dan and I left for O’Hare at 3:30 am. So, that’s nearly 15 hours travel. The “worst” is now behind me. I’m so spoiled. I think of how arduous this trip would have been (if possible at all), say even 50 years ago. Now, getting here in one day is a piece of cake.

When I picked up my things at Nancy’s, I was pleasantly surprised to find that Betty had left a bag of groceries for me to get me through the next day or so: milk, eggs, cheese, a bagel, two apples, some roasted potatoes with carrots, and a bottle of wine. How lucky am I? Then, Betty came over last night with a complete dinner of broasted chicken and rice with peas and mushrooms. It is so great to see my Boquete family again. There’s a little bit of an upset going on with them right now, but I know how much they love each other and depend upon one another. Things will soon be back to normal. I believe that there are plans for a holiday party soon.

My room here is perfect. I have no complaints whatsoever. All I hear are the birds singing and an occasional truck vendor driving by, announcing his wares via the truck’s megaphone. Someday I’m going to find out what the heck he is saying. He just rattles something off in a monotone, and then the last two syllables are like music notes – one up and then one down.

Here are a couple shots of my room. So… For some reason (probably bandwidth), my videos are not uploading to YouTube, so I can’t post those right now. I’ll try again in my next post.

This one I’ll try to post by just copying the URL. We’ll see if it works.

Suffice to say right now, I couldn’t be happier. I have a fabulous view, lovely owners (Jerry brought me a homemade pumpkin pudding yesterday), a super-comfortable bed, and plenty of space. I even discovered that the patio, which I thought would be too exposed to the sun, is perfectly shaded by a giant banana tree – the one in the video above. I am in the process of borrowing a table from Nancy, so hopefully I will be out there soon.

I spent the day today at home, inside (mostly), doing calligraphy and getting my 20 pages off to Kathie for our meeting on Friday. I earlier asked if we could put it off for a week, and she said fine, but also that she was okay changing back. As it turned out, I felt ready to start writing yesterday, and told her that I would be ready by Friday after all. So, I spent the majority of my day wording on that. I also did some final rearranging of my kitchen and pantry.

Jerry came this morning to address the lack of hot water in the shower and also the running toilet. He comes immediately when I text him. He said he installed a new, on-demand water heater, and he hasn’t quite figured it out. Turns out the water must be left to run about 3-5 minutes before it gets hot. Something doesn’t sound right to me. I’m sure he’ll figure it out.

He also asked me if I could tend to the plants outside my door. That works for me! So, I have my own little garden.

The final task today is to see if I can get PBS on this television. I brought my Roku box, and this is a Smart TV, so we’ll see how it goes. I had a good laugh a little while ago. Just before I left home, Dan and I bought Mickey a new iPhone 15. That wasn’t the original plan, but I promised that I would get her set up on our Spectrum account before I left, and I couldn’t get an older iPhone to work. Just before I left, I went over and got it set up with her. Part of that was showing her how to use Siri. So, just a few minutes ago, I got a text from her asking, “How do I call Cheri?” I told her she was calling the wrong person, that it was Siri, not Cheri. She figured it out. She always does. That’s how I want to be at 92!!

Just heard a rooster crow! Love that.

I had the girls yesterday morning. One of my favorite conversations was with Cordelia as we were scouring my pantry for “interesting” food.

Cordelia: “Don’t you have any kids?”

Me: No.

Cordelia: “You’ve NEVER been a MOM?!”

Me: No.

She never asked why. I wonder what was going through her brain.

And then later with Marie:

Me: “How’s your ear?” (She had an infection).

Marie: “Its fine. It doesn’t hurt anymore. I’m just taking probiotics.”

I am quite sure that those words never passed my lips at the age of 4.

This is the “scene of the crime” from kindergarten yesterday. Again, they insist on only playing “Wise Kitty.” I’m going to have to figure out how to be okay with this. Truth be told, it is fun watching the stream of creativity come through them and to observe their little mannerisms and conversations, but 4 hours of that is too much for me. Stay tuned.

I should have taken a “before.” Try to picture just the black mat. I’m happy that the game is reserved for the basement. With Dan not here, I’m just going to leave it.

Since I’ve been spending so much time working on my Christmas card, I’ve been listening to a lot of YouTube videos. My latest favorite “influencer” is James Clear. I loved his book Atomic Habits, and so I’ve been looking for interviews. This was a very interesting one today.

He has such a sharp mind. I love his perspectives on things. Here’s one: So, you say you want to improve some aspect of your life. Are you really doing anything about that? Clear says to pretend that aliens are filming your day, and there is no audio. They will get an idea of what you are doing without any commentary. They are just observing your behavior. I find that fascinating.

I also find it very interesting that many competitive males are now making these podcasts and emphasizing the importance of their spiritual growth. Peter Attia, Andrew Huberman, Simon Mundie are examples. The emphasis is being shifted from competition to collaboration. Also love his normalization of our fear of judgment. It stops so many people.

I am so happy that I am almost finished making the Christmas cards. I love making them, but I’m also enjoying this sense of relief that the end is near. I have other projects that are piling up.

Speaking of projects, Mayra is coming tomorrow to help me move ferns and plant bulbs. I love Mayra. And I’m not the only one. I have heard that she has become very close to one of my fellow UU members who is quite elderly and challenged, and she loves Mayra. It is also one of my few opportunities to speak Spanish with a human. We’ve made an agreement that we only speak in Spanish. She is very kind and a good teacher.

Mike is still working on the deck. He talks to himself constantly. Today, I asked him whom he imagines he is talking to, his father?, his sons? He said, “No just myself.” Then he told me that someone he was working for thought there was something seriously wrong with him. I think he said they talked to him about it.

I was relieved to receive a happier note from Dan today. Sounds like he is experiencing better weather and has also connected with some other pilgrims. He’s into bonding. Me, not so much, at least not on the kind of walk I did. Way too many people. Plus, I like keeping to my own schedule. Less hassle. The Arles Camino he is now doing has very few hikers. So, that’s a different story…sometimes.

I had such a lovely day today, and I especially appreciated it after reading the latest email from Dan about his Camino travails. I replied that I was happily ensconced on my deck (now heated) reading his emails, listening to the bleating of goats and Purple Rain blasting on Mike’s radio as he works on the deck.

“Bleating of goats you may ask?” Our neighbors rented goats to eat their underbrush. I feel like I’m sitting in a B&B in Europe somewhere.

Today’s taste treat. Gotta love Costco!! These figs are perfect!

And look at this little Delicate beauty that volunteered in one of my planters.

I’m still working on my Christmas card. I think I will reassess my plan (aka have my head examined) if I ever decide to do this again. I love making them, but it’s starting to go on a bit too long. I realized that 100 cards was not enough, so now I’m on overtime. I’m not a huge fan of Christmas, which is one reason why I leave for the winter; however, there is something about the joyful surprises. I like that.

I’m also back working on the Camino book. I have my first appointment with Kathie on the 22nd. So, writing is soon to take up a greater chunk of my day. I’d like to get the cards finished. I think I will actually be meeting with Kathie in person this time. Last time I worked with her was during Covid, so it was all on Zoom.

Just for the record, I fractured my left wrist and tore (or completed a tear) of the left medial meniscus while playing pickle ball on August 8th. So, yes, I’m one of the many seniors who has suffered an injury due to this popular sport. When I went to Orthopedic Associates, I even got a T-shirt. So, I’m one of the club! Actually, I’m out of commission for a while. The wrist is much better, and not so important since I’m right-handed, but the knee still feels very vulnerable. I can walk fine, but I can’t pivot, and that would not be a good thing while trying to play pickle ball. Oh, the joys of aging.

I’m reading a book right now by Peter Attia titled Outlive. Attia, an MD and researcher on longevity, suggests that we create our own personal Centenarian Decathlon. He says to make a list of the ten things you want to be able to do when you are at your oldest. So far, my list looks like this, which is all the things I can presently do and want to continue:

• Stand up from a seated position (chair or floor) without using my hands.
• Walk up and down the basement stairs in fewer than 8 seconds.
• Hike 15-20 miles in one day.
• Lift weight at a decent level for my age, including dumbbells, bags and boxes (no children).
• Maintain balance on one foot (or a balance board) for one minute.
• Maintain my current level of cognitive ability as measured on the AARP website.

Four more to add. I’ll see what comes up as I read the book. I sent Attia a message asking for his opinion on using the DEXA scan to “diagnose” osteoporosis. Not very likely that he will answer, but…stay tuned.

A lovely quote I came upon recently while reading Chemistry Lessons: Your days are numbered. Use them to throw open the windows of your soul to the sun. – Marcus Aurelius

That quote gives me the same feeling as a phrase I came across in my preparation for our next Soul Matters class: “Love on the loose.”