Appreciations Year 4

DianaK

Appreciations 4.273-4.276

273. Our new tree! The city planted a Bur Oak on the boulevard. It will be so thrilling to watch it grow. 🙂

The most exquisite smell of french lilacs. I know I look like a lunatic, stopping to stick my face in to smell them when I’m out walking around, but I don’t actually care. What a delicious aroma! Mmmmm.

Sunlit tulips and gardens.

274. Native plant sale and breakfast with Laura. What a fun start to the weekend! We learned a lot about how to prepare for a plant sale. Next time we’ll be ready with containers and cash! 😉 Doesn’t seem to matter what we do, Laura and I always have fun. Breakfast at the Good Earth was delicious!

Astonishingly beautiful weather. I always fall back in love with Minnesota at this time of year!

Driving myself to Rindo’s party tonight. Didn’t stay long, but got to see a few beloved people before I left. Longest solo trip I’ve made in months. 😉

275. Fabulous walk and breakfast with Kat and Cina to start the day. 🙂

The excellent timing of things…like discovering the handle to the storm door was broken before leaving the house, thereby avoiding being locked out! (Thanks, Mckenzie, for fixing it!)

Raspberries and blueberries. Yum.

276. Fantastic Mastermind meeting today. I am so lucky to work with bright, funny, insightful people like Jerilyn and Amy!

native plantsMore progress on the walkway on the south side of the house. It feels so great to be making progress on projects like this that have been neglected for years. Today we got another bag of weeds cleared out and got all the new plants in the ground.

Brilliant chat with Alison today. My friends are the most interesting, sweet, fun people. I’m so lucky!

DianaK

Appreciations 4.272 – good news

Amazingly fun and productive meeting with Sara. I am incredibly grateful to know and work with her. I feel like we always manage to enjoy our friendship AND get work done at these meetings. What a joy!

Interesting and amusing visit with Jeff today (with bonus errands and ride to my appointment). I’m so happy to have him here in MN!!

di-drivingFabulous news from my PA Amy today — I get to drive again!!! Just short distances and no freeway driving, but it feels so exciting to have a little autonomy again! Plus, lots of other reassurances and helpful info like the fact that lots of people in my situation have anxiety and PTSD issues (I’m not alone!) AND the side effect of my anti-arrhythmic med that can cause skin to turn blue is, in fact, rare. Amy has only seen one case of it in 16 years at the heart clinic. I’m SO happy to stop worrying about turning into a smurf. 😉

Scrumptious and delightful dinner with Ruby and Terri and then reading and snuggles with Ruby. What a wonderfully sweet evening. ❤

DianaK

Appreciations 4.271 – roller coaster

rollercoaster-&-heartLearning to ride this roller coaster of healing — and having so much support along the way. ❤ During the past few weeks I’ve started thinking I “should” be working more and getting more stuff done now since I’m not having dizzy spells so often and I feel okay. So, then on days when I can’t seem to do much of anything or want to sleep all day, I’ve been feeling like I’m just not trying hard enough. Ouch. Fortunately, I have some intuitive, gentle, and helpful people around me to remind me that being shocked and having your heart stop are not really like having a cold… and maybe, just maybe the effects and healing will have a slightly different schedule. Thanks for the reminder, sweet people. 🙂

Trip to Menards with my dad and Mckenzie. Got some hardware that we needed to replace around the house and looked at materials for the patio project we’re contemplating. Every time I go to one of the home improvement stores, I feel so happy. So many possibilities!

More astonishingly gorgeous weather. I love every minute of it.

Tackling another project with Mckenzie. This time he cut down or pulled up the forest of volunteer trees on the north side of the house, while I bundled or bagged them. 1 more huge bag and 2 more bundles of branches ready to go. I like making progress on the yard!

DianaK

Appreciations 4.270 – backyard bliss

Miss Luna Purrsalot. So cuddly today! Every time I sat down, she jumped into my lap to say hello and purr and purr and purr. What a sweet little kitty!

Another exquisite day. I enjoy this weather so much!

Working with Mckenzie to complete our bundle-all-the-branches-from-the-past-6-years project. So much work, but so satisfying! 8 bundles of sticks and branches and 3 big bags of weeds and roots (mostly that one darn vine!!). SO happy to have that massive pile of branches gone. Next we’ll put actual plants into that spot! Maybe this will be the year we actually create a backyard we want to spend time in!

DianaK

Appreciations 4.269 – Diana and the wonderful, excellent, all good, very fine day

😀 So many sweet moments today. I like the feeling that I am learning to hold the truth of the challenges in my life right alongside the truth of the beauty in my life.

Today I got to spend time with Katie, including a walk up to the coffee shop where the barista pulled out my favorite pastry as I walked up to the counter and then asked if I wanted an Americano. (I did!) I love the familiar friendly faces of the folks at Royal Grounds!

This excellent day also included getting more work done than I have most days lately. That felt great.

What else? Oh, right, the magnificent weather. Gorgeous.

Also, goslings! So adorable!IMG_9783

Another spectacular part of the day included walking around Linden Hills with the kids when we went to pick up Cina’s birthday cake at Sebastian Joe’s. On our way back to the car (which we’d parked at Lake Harriet), we met a family out for a walk who asked us to take their picture…because they were out on their baby’s first walk!! Took some photos and chatted with the beaming mom and dad and grandparents, who introduced us to 1-week old Lincoln. And that tiny, gorgeous little creature took my finger and held on tight. What a magical moment we got to be part of.

My sweet day concluded with a lovely conversation reconnecting with my dear friend Terri. I am incredibly thankful for her, and for the other fascinating, thoughtful, open-hearted people in my life.

And I love that I’m recording this so I can re-experience this deep sense of well-being another day when I might need it. 🙂

DianaK

Appreciations 4.268 – wonderful

di-and-ida-may-2016Glorious visit with Sarah and Ida, plus getting see so many improv friends at today’s gathering. It had been a LONG time, so it was marvelous to catch up a little.❤

Spectacular weather. My favorite thing about MN is days like today!

Delightful dinner and errand-running with David. People have been so generous about driving me around town the past two months. I appreciate it SO much. Two down, one to go…

Gradually getting back to normal (well, as “normal” as I’ve ever been 😉 ) Today I was able to be out socializing and running errands for over 5 hours — and only had one dizzy spell. Hooray!

Stretching my idiolect to include more words that mean wonderful. Today’s additions: glorious and marvelous. We’ll see if they stick.😀

DianaK

Appreciations 4.267

Sunshine! It may be chilly, but it sure is pretty. 😀

Triumphing over tired – but gently. Not so much with the sleeping the past few days, but I really wanted to get some stuff done today. Managed to do that – but also managed to be gentle and rest when I needed to. I love finding that kind of balance. Something to strive for. 🙂

Listening to Ellis’ concert even though I didn’t quite have the juice to get my body over there tonight. Sweet!

DianaK

Appreciations 4.266 – sun and rainbow drops

sun-and-rainbow-dropsIt was fun to see the sunshine for a few minutes yesterday. Even that little break from the rain made it possible for me to wake up loving the sound of the drip drops on my roof today.

Reacquainting myself with laughter. Oh, right… that thing I love to do! Ha ha ha ha ha!

Good news from my tests this week: normal pulmonary function (which is a great thing if you’re using the meds I’m on!) AND bonus hemoglobin of 12.3. way to go, body!!

Pixabay, whose images I use for all sorts of things – including teaching myself photoshop!

A no-appointment day that allows me some uninterrupted work time! I’m already down from 29 messages in my Action folder to 11. Yay!

DianaK

Appreciations 4.265

Some days are all about making stuff in photo shop. Mostly with lilacs. 😀

Bonus day with Katie!

The sumptuous scent of lilacs all through my house. So short-lived, but so sublime. ❤

DianaK

Appreciations 4.264

Nice visit and lunch with my dad (and today’s chauffeur) between appointments. Thanks, dad!

Fun surprise visit from Alison this afternoon. She is such a good storyteller! 😀

Surprise visit from Katie today. ❤ I am so lucky to have a life full of vibrant, funny, fascinating people! Wow.

The stupendous profusion of lilacs we have this year! We used to get just a very few flowers, so at least there’s one good thing about losing our elm tree. 🙂 I decided to cut a few lilacs to bring into the house today. The whole living room smells amazing!