Indulge Your Shelf

I really appreciate living in Colorado, and I remember that more whenever the weather is nice and I'm out walking in my neighborhood. I've been in a kind of a fitness funk ever since my Curves gym closed almost a year ago.  I have access to other work out rooms, but they require a level of self-discipline and lack the "community" feeling I used to get at Curves.  Do you know what I mean? I try to keep on top of exercising by swimming, walking, and taking the occasional Zumba or other dance type fitness class.  Lately since Spring has made its appearance, I've been doing more walking.  It helps me a lot to be out of doors in the mornings since my full time job, which I start at noon, keeps me inside all the rest of the day. I like having my phone with me on walks so I can take photos of whatever strikes me along the way. The day I was taking these we had ice melting and I noticed this cool formation on the surface of the water that was d...

We are back from a week in Florida; it was a long overdue, family vacation for the three of us. waiting for take-off! Our destination was St. Augustine, Florida .  The beach.  If you know me then you know I'm from San Francisco but living for the last decade or so, landlocked, in Colorado.  I love and miss the beach. We were at a different one every day of the trip.   The photo above was taken at the beach named for the town, during an after dinner stroll. We had amazing weather -- it was perfect, in the high 70s and sunny every day.   Note: Ben enjoyed photo-bombing me the entire week, and when I took a photo of him he either made a face or closed his eyes, on purpose. None of us had never been to St. Augustine before; it was just beautiful.  We all loved it!  It's the oldest city in the US, one that is often left out of our history books because it was established by the Spanish, not the English. The city happened to be celebrating t...

I've been so content this past week: enjoying the hot (for Colorado) summer days and reminiscing about Independence Days past. Growing up in the SF bay area, we celebrated the holiday very simply.  I can remember waiting impatiently for it to be dark enough for my father to take us out in front of the house and shoot off our pack of Red Devil fireworks in our driveway! Every year, the only thing "good" thing to watch on television was The Music Man , that old movie musical, and that the movie dragged on.  And on.  And on.  While we waited for it to get dark enough for fireworks! When it finally happened, most houses on the block had open garage doors and a small fountain of fireworks fizzling in the gutter in front of their houses, and the air was thick with the whistles of Piccolo Petes. The next really memorable Independence Day in my life was in 1985 when I was 20 and had recently been dumped by my boyfriend of 2 years.  The world was ending -- at least...

I know you want to see what antiques and things I bought while in VA.  The thing is, I didn't buy much.  We didn't get around to shopping as much as I would have liked to -- there was so much to see and do in the area! We spent one lovely, long morning and early afternoon at the monuments. I especially loved the World War II Memorial -- because my dad served in that war. So beautiful. And, if you can stand one more Scout photo: Me at Adventure Base -- the touring Scout exhibit.  Later we went to the Smithsonians -- and my poor feet finally gave out at the National Art Gallery. "Repose" by John Singer Sargent -- I sat in front of her in the same posture as she, while Dennis looked around.  My hips had been hurting, my legs had been sore, and my feet were overdone.  It was so discouraging, because we had two more days left to sight see, but I couldn't go on. The next day, since I couldn't walk much, we drove 2-1/2 hours to Delaware, to the beach. ...