Lesson 630: Bleak Week

Hello, Readers.

It's the end of January

and time to curl up with a drink 

and your Friday night blog.

January can be so bleak and colorless.

The kids at Clark School 

are fun to watch shake out the winter wiggles

at recess time.

We get them out as often as we can

if the weather and real feel is above 20 degrees.

If last week felt like ten days long, 

this week felt like fifteen.

With bad news at every turn last week,

the week drug by.

When Eloise is upset,

I feel unproductive,

unimaginative,

and just utterly bleak.

The only way to get through the tough times

is just to go through them

one step, 

one breath,

at a time.

Thank you,

Robert Frost,

for finding the perfect words.

Basketball usually livens up the week.

We really enjoyed playing Coach Pat's team,

Sam's gentle giant of a first cousin.

But a sick Sammy wound up not being too much of a threat.

That was the last game Sam will play until Monday.

He's down for the count,

spending the remainder of the week,

and the rest of the weekend on the couch.

Natalie certainly isn't one to sit around.

She's our working girl,

and shakes her tail feathers up at the Penn State Behrend

salad bar every weekday at lunchtime.

She's transitioning in several new helpers,

my sister being one of them.

She gave us a good report this week,

and snapped this picture that makes me smile.

I've referred back to it several times

during my bleak week.

Pilaf....

Speaking of food--

Eloise was putting some food items into the My Fitness Pal

food tracker this week.

I mistyped "noodles"

and put "needles."

Good to know used hypodermic needles are only 10 calories!

That got Eloise a-thinkin'.

I wondered what else could be on there.

Whelp--good to know, I suppose.

For the nose pickers,

you have to consume a whole lot of snot

to really make a dent in your calorie consumption.

I'm sure you could think of a few more,

but I'd rather you spend your free time on more educational things.

Here's one friend Robin shared on facebook

that I found fascinating.

British photographer Jimmy Nelson spent four years

photographing vanishing tribes of the world.

I included the link to the article 

with many of the photos below.

He also is working on a book and film titled 

Before They Pass Away.

Photos worth the view Vanishing Tribes CLICK HERE

I don't know what I'm taken aback by the most--

the stunning landscape,

the wingspan of that bird,

or the donkey.

Ellen read an article at college this week

about the death of the hobby among her generation.

According to recent data,

people Ellen's age are not engaging in hobby activities

that don't involve a screen.

She came home this weekend and pulled out her sunflower blanket.

"I will not be responsible for the death of the hobby!"

she said matter of factly.

I have noticed that yarn arts are catching on with kids again.

Several have asked me to teach them how to crochet

when I bring in my weather blanket from time to time to show them.

Even though my sister pictures me like this--

I can tell you that it's a pretty rewarding hobby.

Someday,

I want to make this!

I hope you find some solace and refuge in those you love

if you are experiencing a bleak week like we are.

For those of you waiting for word suggestions 

for your Word of the Year,

I'll think of some suggestions next week.

I kept coming up with 

Melancholy

Woeful

and 

Desolate--

which are really lame Words of the Year.

I'll perk back up with my snark next week.

In the meantime,

you can check with my mother for suggestions.

She has lots of them.

She keeps changing her word...

Peace,
Eloise

Lesson 629: Lacuna

It was almost as if we were frozen in time
here at the Lamp Post this week.



Thankfully,
 the worst of the unpredictable weather
arrived on the weekend,
so we didn't have to delay or miss school.

Sometimes you have to reroute your day
when the weather has other plans for you.



We were able to travel just far enough
for Sam to win us some freebies while bowling.



We could walk to the neighbors
to see our favorite little girls
play with a dollhouse.

I did a little internet surfing because I kept my power,

while my parents who live next door

lost their electricity for six hours last Saturday.

They bundled up.

Grandpa snored.

Grandma read.

Eloise thought--

better them than me.

This is what I found on my lazy day couch surfing--

I think everyone should chip in

and buy me this for my birthday.

It's a Tasha Tudor advent calendar.

The little doors really open

into the hollows of that big tree.

It sold for $13,500 in 2007,
so the price has probably gone up a tad bit.
You might have to do a little dickering to get it.

If that was unavailable,
I'd take this next one, too.

Just smush in the nose of that dog a little,
and paint a white stripe down the middle of its
head with some white out--
you'd have Hazel,
my three children,
a feral cat,
and my nativity set,
minus the Joseph in the pink robe.

There is always an unpredictability
of winters in Erie.
Natives learn to roll with the weather
 and find excitement in the constant changes.

Life threw at us something
none of us could predict this week.
We lost a friend.
Our friend Mike,
unexpectedly died at work last Monday,
leaving all of us at the Lamp Post
and the community of North East in a state
of shocked sadness.

His death left a gap in our stories,
a space that would have been filled with
good times,
and games,
and leagues,
and laughter.

There is a hole in our manuscripts,
a space that feels empty and cavernous.
What remains is a void
 that can only be filled
with the memories we shared.

To those grieving with us,
here is a piece of good advice.

Mike,
I promise to be more fun.

You will be missed.
Eloise and family

Lesson 628: A Word to Live By

Happy weekend, Readers.
It's a long weekend for some of us.



There's a lot to focus on tonight,
so I'll get right to it.

Focus was the word I chose for 2020.
Choosing your word for the year
is a trendy little thing people are doing.
I picked one on January first,
and we had to pick one again
for school at our faculty meeting this week.
I kept focus
for home life
and school life
as there are great benefits to focus in both.

Weekend homework:
Choose your word for 2020

Here are few suggestions:

Apparently I'm not the only one
who thought of focus
for the year 2020.
It's first on this recommendation list.

You can do cool things with your word
to remind you of it.
This jewelry idea is pretty neat.

Not to credit myself with the trend,
but I did something like this
and handful of years ago
when I signed up for a Tough Mudder race.
I chose focus back then, too.



I wrote it everywhere:
on calendars,
in my journals,
across the back of my sweaty t-shirts,
on my forearms,
on rocks,

I knew I needed focus to get the job done,
and I did!

I chose focus again
because that has always been my biggest challenge,
to:

No,
I don't have ADD or attention issues.
Those individuals with problems like
that have a hard time reading or attending to any task
for a long period of time.

I just have a very creative brain
and a broad range of interests.
That's different.

Experts tell us this:



So,
I guess everything matters to me.

Nature


Sports

Well, in the scheme of things,
alcohol isn't THAT important,
but I do love this glass.

Fun

Autism

Photography

Family

Oh,

and since I'm onto the sports shots,

I will mention the Unmentionable:

Hubby did NOT make the Times News Tournament cut this year!

It was the healthiest his back has been in 10 years.

Not a complaint,

a limp,

a gimp,

or a gripe.

Funny how that works,

isn't it?

You'll win it next year, Louie.

That's my 2020 vision!

And just think,

in a few years,

Sam will be bowling with you!
(and is already gunning for the win).

I love to read,
but it takes me awhile to get through a book,
because I'm usually reading 2 or 3 at the same time.

Right now I'm reading two great books!

I suppose if I focused on one at a time,
I'd get through them faster,
but honestly,
that's so boring.

For 2020,
if you're around the Lamp Post
or catch me at school,
you're bound to find the word
focus
somewhere.

You wouldn't believe how much
a simple reminder helps your year long goal.

I always choose a few goals a year.
The school ones come at the true start of every year--
September.

The family,
finance,
faith,
and health goals
are revisited each January.

I saw this idea on Pinterest
and decided to incorporate it for my health
goal of exercising at least 33 minutes
every single day of the year.
I love all things visual!

I thought it was a good goal for me
because my avenues to fitness are so broad now
that my feet are no longer fit for just running.

You map out your year across two notebook pages like this:

This was from a few days ago.

I fill in the rectangle according to which form of exercise 

I got in that day.

Some workouts are longer than 33 minutes,

and three were shorter,

so those counted as rest days,

which I've learned are important, too.

I made my own code system, of course.

Eloise likes codes.

Not much of a secret code now that I told y'all.

Basement is black because it's dark down there

when I ride hills on my exercise bike,

walk hills on my treadmill,

or lift weights.

Team Adrenaline gets the sweat droplets.
Always a great workout!

Pool--those are waves.

Walk--Hazel and I zigzag around the park trails.

Swirls--

Spin classes at the YMCA are awesome,

but I can only catch them in the summertime.

Straight lines--

Yoga 

It helps my posture 

and keeps me standing straight and tall.

I really like my bike!

Those are the wheels.

And the blank days 

or for when I just took a break

for whatever the reason,

or couldn't break a sweat for 33 minutes.

Sometimes when you are so tired

things get blurry,

it's time to adjust the lens

and focus on rest.

Check back next week.

I'm not sure how many of you 

will actually do your homework

over the long weekend,

so I decided to do it for you.

If you haven't chosen your word,

I'm assigning you one.

Eloise