At the olive mill

We had the best Christmas possible under Covid, Zooming with family who would have been here and sharing time with family we haven’t spent Christmas with in years. Tonight we’ll be FaceTime-ing with friends from Illinois, then tomorrow is not only another day, but another year, something I know we’ve all been waiting for.

Our daughter had some time off and slipped out of California to visit us, although her husband had to stay home and work. So yesterday we drove to Queen Creek Olive Mill for some coffee and mother-daughter time before she headed back to the west coast.

The outdoor area is in an olive grove shaded by olive trees and where there are several Christmas tree-shaped trees guarded by two lions. The trees are decorated for Christmas, the lion thankfully not. But this lion doesn’t look too happy, probably because…

…with post-dawn temperatures in the upper 30’s it’s not exactly the African savanna and it’s a bit chilly sitting outside even with a hot mocha. These gas fires are very cheerful and look nice and warm, but we found that they really aren’t, so we sat on the covered patio which had standing heaters as well as heaters above us. It was so toasty we were able to take of our jackets and just enjoy our drinks. It was lovely.

Yes, the trees have olives, but don’t eat one off the tree. Until they’re cured and fermented, they’re very bitter as my husband discovered in Provence years ago when his sister gave him an olive right off the tree. Siblings!

Since meals and snacks are served here, there are crumbs and where there are crumbs, there are those who try to help clean them up, whether or not they’re being paid.

Relaxing in the sunshine (with additional heat as needed), enjoying time with my daughter while sipping a mocha topped with whipped cream, surrounded by cute little birds and stone lions, admiring the bougainvillea…life is good. Let’s pray that 2021 will be the same.

Relax

for One Word Sunday

This view is calling me.

Although I’d be seeing snow if I were sitting here right now (and I’d be bundled up against the cold), it’s time for the annual drive to Wyoming’s Big Horn mountains. This will be the last time I take the route that’s been part of my life for more years than we’ve been married (35 this September.) Driving from Arizona next year will show us new vistas and places to replace the ones I’ll miss.

As we have no phone service and very little internet, I’ll be enjoying the relaxation that comes from not being available all the time and online sometimes too much. I’ll miss you, but of course you’ll hear and see all about it when I get back.

See you in July and may you have a blessed rest of June.

Hasta la vista, baby!

Nope, nothing about Aaaanold today, just notice that I’m taking a bit of time off this upcoming week.  Besides it being Holy Week with three church services and praise team practice, I have a fairly full work schedule, taxes to organize and get sent off, a house that might need cleaning, the new Donna Leon book, and so on and so on.  You get the idea.  I can’t do justice to my life let alone my blog and yours with all that going on, so as Aaaanold says,  “I’ll be back.”

I wish those of you who celebrate Easter a happy and blessed one.  To those of you who don’t, I pray for you a happy and blessed time, too.  🙂  I’ll miss you but as “they” say, “Absence makes the heart grow fonder.”  Enjoy and I’ll see you soon.

Mesmerizing Monday

I enjoyed having all of you along for the trip to Wyoming and our stop in the Badlands on the way home.  We never did finish our trip to France, so I’ll be going back to that soon.  Here’s a video I took while on our way into the mountains, where we had so much fog the first day. My s-i-l let the dogs out for a short break and I took photos and enjoyed the sound of the stream.  This is in the Forêt de la Bresse or forest of Bresse.

Turn the sound up and spend half a minute just relaxing.

 

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Take a break!

As many of you know, when I went to Arizona at the end of last month to visit my parents for ten days, I made the (for me) momentous decision to take a cyber break.  After daily blogging for five years, reading more and more blogs, trying to control my email, and surviving FB, I thought it might be quite difficult.  I love blogging and I love visiting and commenting on other people’s blogs.

It was, however, quite simple and SO relaxing!  My parents don’t have internet, so although I made the trip to their library any number of times, it was only for stacks of books to read when we weren’t doing anything else.  I responded to the blog comments that came in and resisted the email clips of blog posts that sounded interesting.  I got rid of email as fast as I could and you know what?  It was so freeing.  It felt as if I’d gone back in time to a simpler way of life, which I had.  I didn’t even take as many photos as usual, partly due to the not-so-good weather and even pouring rain the first few days (very un-Arizona-like.)

It felt good to shed the guilty feeling of getting behind on blogs visits on the days that I work.  Add that to not having all the things in a house that beg to be done at all times and it was brilliantly restful.

Remember when we went out of the house without a phone in our pockets/purses and never once felt that we might be missing something?  Now, the few times I’ve forgotten my phone, I’ve almost had to force myself to keep going, assuring myself that nothing bad is going to happen if I’m out of touch for a bit.  Ditching our landline some years ago gave a similar sense of unease, followed by the delight of not coming home to an answering machine filled with message to erase from people to whom I didn’t want to talk.

I love being back, talking with friends most of whom I’ve never met in person, enjoying the sights and words they share as well.  But I highly, highly, highly recommend that you schedule at least one cyber break for yourself in this upcoming year.  As the famous Alka Seltzer ad said, “Try it. You’ll like it.”

P.S.  For those of you of a certain age, here’s a trip into the past, with 11 ads containing tag lines that have become catch phrases.  Try them; you’ll like them.

A brave, daring adventure

Today I’m trying something I’ve never done during the five years I’ve been blogging. (My fifth anniversary was just after the beginning of the new year.)  I hope you’re sitting dow when I tell you that…

I’m going to take a cyber break.

Whaaaaaaat?

Yes, it’s true.  I’m leaving today for Arizona to spend ten days with my parents, who don’t have internet.  While I’m there, I usually head over to the library every day to do my blog, read other blogs, check email, etc. as quickly as possible. This year, I’m going to not do most of those things. Although I’ll check (and delete most) email, I’m not going to be blogging or reading blogs during that time.  I will respond to any comments, however.

I anticipate it will be very difficult, because I haven’t missed a blogging day in five years and I enjoy it.  I also enjoy reading everyone’s blogs.  But I also anticipate that it will be both freeing and relaxing and that it’s something I need the discipline to do.

So TTFN.  I’m already longing to see y’all on the 31st.  In the meantime, all the best and don’t spend too much time online!

In the words from a book I read many, many, many years ago:

Don’t make a stranger of yourself.  Don’t forget me.  ‘Bye.

Just close your eyes.

Some days you just need to close your eyes, feel the sun on your face, and relax.
Saturday is an excellent day for all of these.
Enjoy the day.

Indian Summer

Sitting on the deck with the latest Elizabeth George
and a salted caramel macchiato 
in a red cup with Christmas decorations
	(free medium drink coupon)
	(next time get the mocha)
bare toes luxuriate in unseasonable warmth
eyes squint against the sun of a glorious day.

I recklessly and willfully
Squander time outside today
	riches that may not come again for months
	(foggy morning hours in the park
	stolen afternoon hours in the sun.)
Housework will be there tomorrow
	(and when I go inside.)

With the “fall back" time
	darkness arrives too quickly,
	breathing closely behind my back
	at 2:30, only two hours away.

I close my eyes against the sun
	trying to interpret the black shapes that move
	against the orange behind my eyelids.

Tea on a French patio

As I posted a photo from France for yesterday’s photo challenge, “Treat,” I thought I’d post another, perfect for a relaxing Saturday morning.  Whether you’re in France or not, I hope today is that start of a wonderful weekend and some time for relaxing and refreshing.