Outside My Window ~ 01.04.2015

Outside My Window…is a unbelievably warm day and not at all like the photograph I choose as the background outside my window above.  We currently have mostly cloudy skies and a temperature of 71ºF….yes, you read that right.  A high of 76ºF has been forecast for today.  Hardly what I would expect for January 4th.  But don’t get too excited folks because we are going to drop about 30º for tomorrows high of only 46ºF and really get a jolt on Thursday when our high is only forecast for 28ºF.  Crazy ass weather.  We have been snow free thus far this winter and thunderstorms are in our forecast for today. I had read that we may not have much in the way of wintry precipitation this year.  I don’t mind the snow so much as I do the inevitable ice that always accompanies it.

I am thinking…that many of you are probably surprised to see this today.  I haven’t published one since April 6th of last year.  I was surprised myself when I saw how long it had been…didn’t realize so much time had passed.  You would probably be surprised at how long it has been since I have done a great many things I use to do actually. There are some milestones in life that don’t have any impact on you at all….and then there are some that have a profound impact.  All I can say is facing the reality of turning 60 this past year had a greater impact on my life than I thought it would.  We won’t even talk about the facing my mortality thoughts that ran through my mind, but the entire year was like a this is your life montage playing like some epic film.  I was thinking about things and people I haven’t thought of in years and years….from my early childhood up to this point in my life. I didn’t give it much thought in the early part of the year but as it played on I noticed it had an effect on me that I wasn’t prepared for. I couldn’t grasp the reality that this life as I know it is winding down slowly but surely and I didn’t have all those years in front of me like I once did. There were lots of what if’s and whys.  Christmas day was the big day and when I woke up that morning, it was done.  I was officially 60 years old and there was not a damn thing I could do about it now. But there was something I could do….I told myself to deal with it and let it go….so I did.  I stopped focusing on the number and decided I needed to live in the now and while it is nice to remember what has been, you can’t go back…it doesn’t work that way.  So I started making some plans again, working toward a dream ~ and then I got sick.  🙂  Not so bad, just enough to make me slightly miserable for the past week.

I am glad…that I got a flu shot this year only to hear the fabulous news that they probably weren’t going to work with what was out there.  I think I have been trying to catch it but have enough vaccine in me to hold it off to just slightly miserable.  I couldn’t help but wonder if I got the actual flu if it would be said and done with by now instead of this annoying hack/cough hanging on.  You know, kind of like let it blow up then run its course instead of fighting it off with maybe vaccines.  🙂  I kid…I don’t think I would have enjoyed the second half of my winter break fighting the flu.  I’m not so glad I have to go back to work again on Monday after two weeks off.  Sigh.

From my kitchen…has been not much and mostly leftovers because see above.  Appetite has not been strong this past week.  I do have some new recipes that I would like to try soon and if they turn out tasty, I will share them with you.

I am hearing…the ticking of my many clocks….a floor fan cooling the house off….an otherwise quiet house.

From my camera…a few photos from the past year.  They may be repeats to some, but not to others….

My morning glories this year (affectionately known as The Beast) about the time they started to bloom.  I do have some photos of it in full bloom but can’t locate them on the hard drive right now….will share another day.

Marley and Piper taking my neighbor Steve for a walk this past spring….

My niece and her newborn daughter this past November….

Credits for the Outside My Window composite can be found here.