Slight Detour: Monday Miscellany

It's Monday.

Presidents' Day holiday.

Snow is falling again, as February tries to make up for the December and January winter void.

In fact, we'll probably get the plow out this morning and clean up our walking areas. On this morning's walks, I noticed snow finding its way into the tops of my boots.

Still, it was lovely to trudge through the woods and across the fields, admiring the fresh coating of white stuff.

This morning, while surfing my usual Internet stops, I ran across the quote below and, for some odd reason, connected with it.

Let's just call it the Monday morning "I like this" quote from a much-revered, amazing actress.

She was SO funny in her skit on the "Saturday Night Live" anniversary show last night that her antics almost put me on the floor with excessive belly laughs.

But being an old woman, I would have had to figure out how to get up, so I opted to just giggle on the couch.

In the selected quote, Meryl Streep talks about letting go and accepting all the bad stuff that ambushes us every day.

I'm not really ready to submit to either of those quite yet as a 77-year-old.

I do, however, identify with the "walking slowly and with great certainty" part.

Spending about 70 years not doing that earned me lots of Klutz medals in the process.

Eventually, upon finally learning that walking too fast and tripping or going splat at an older age hurts a lot more than it did the years before.

So, I decided that it was up to me to save myself----hence slower more deliberate step-taking is a part of my M.O.

I also agree wholeheartedly Meryl's take on cherishing those who are hanging around with the rest of us. They become more cherished with each day that they stay.

As for the last sentence below, yes, Meryl, you nailed it there.

And, so the stories within this old gal go on each and every day.

Meryl Streep said:

"Aging is not for the weak. One day you wake up and realize that your youth is gone, but along with it, so go insecurity, haste, and the need to please... You learn to walk more slowly, but with greater certainty.

You say goodbye without fear, and you cherish those who stay. Aging means letting go, it means accepting, it means discovering that beauty was never in our skin... but in the story we carry inside us."

Yesterday's stories included a brief visit to my friend Gary's 90th birthday which included a healthy dose of old Sandpoint friends and acquaintances.

I also went to Winter Ridge Natural Foods and did some shopping to aid in my quest for taming my unruly innards.

Bill loves all of my food experiments because the refrigerator is continually packed with new items for experimentation. If Marianne doesn't eat them, Bill will get some new treats.

He especially likes that I'm purchasing unpasteurized sauerkraut for my gut. That means he has a good supply to add some zip to his sausage sandwiches.

In my quest to stop the rumblings and the volcanic gut behavior, I've learned from friends and through reading that unpasteurized sauerkraut is extremely helpful for a number of reasons, including boosting our immune system, as a probiotic and even reducing inflammation.

It helps that I love sauerkraut, especially with a little mustard.

This is the early-morning scene out our sliding-glass door.

I bought that bird feeder to replace one which was falling apart. After hanging it with some sunflower seeds inside, I discovered that the holes were too small for the seeds.

So, I went back and purchased smaller seeds, which, for some strange reason, still don't dribble through the holes.

So, it just hangs there with the feed and now some rather impressive icicles.