Bubble an' Squeak

Let me preface this post/trip with this disclaimer: We are not Florida people. (Nothing against Florida people. I know some Florida people and I love them. I just have a complicated relationship with Florida). We are, however, Scottish people. When we learned the Scots would be in Florida this spring, we made the decision to go to Florida. I had never been, and Nic had not been for years and years. So, another adventure was in store for us. Nic and I awoke early (WAY early) on Wednesday morning to catch a flight to Tampa, where we planned to meet up with our Scottish family for five fab days of Florida.  Things at work have been hard for both of us, so we came to this holiday so ready to relax, and very thankful that Paddy is an excellent trip planner. We travelled from Tampa to Kissimmee, where their daughter was playing tennis. Our afternoon was spent lying by the pool, soaking up the sun, and quickly catching up. We planned to pop down to Cocoa Beach to see the launches. Paddy h...

  The easy breeze through the small opening of the screen in the window clattered the long, vertical blinds of my parents' living room. Many cats before Whitefoot had long since torn the screen to make the perfect entrance into the house from the front yard. Yet as he poked his orange face through the screen it seemed to belong to only him.  The stray cats my dad has been collecting from around the neighborhood lazed behind him in the flowerbed, where my mother's beautiful flowers towered over them, offering shade from the hot, Northern Arizona sunshine. Whitefoot rubbed his orange body against the window frame, drifting casually into the living room. My dad sat in his usual blue chair. His novel, a trashy detective novel, was open on his lap. His head leaned back in the chair as he dozed. Whitefoot meandered toward him, casually stopping at the fish tank to check on his nemesis, Spot. Satisfied that he could not catch him today, he stepped gingerly onto my dad's lap, a...

  "Dwell on the beauty of life. Watch the stars, and see yourself running with them." ~ Aurelius The Stoics believe that anything can happen to anyone at any time. As a result, we should be prepared for everything and nothing, while being totally chill about it.  I wish I had known this back in September when I realized I had broken my leg. Wow, if only I could have been slightly more chill about possibly never running again and walking with extreme pain. Instead I freaked out. Now that I do know this, I would like to believe I am slightly more prepared for this year. Prepared might be the wrong word. I am rarely prepared for much in this life. Jaded. Life will fuck you up. Try not to be too upset about it.  That's what I am going for. In the meantime I am focusing on building a life, fragile and vulnerable though it may be to Life, that feels good on the inside, and on the outside. To help me with this, I have chosen 'Well' as my word of the year.  I am working h...

You may notice a bit of a theme in these pictures: Nic and I love our dogs. A lot.. We spend a fair amount of time walking them, holding them, talking to them and about them, and generally loving these furry babies. One picture per month of just us reveals the ways that I overlook the beauty of our day-to-day life. We spend a great deal of time together, but Nic does not love photos, and I forget to record the things that make our life memorable and wonderful. I am resolving now to take more pictures of our life this year. And pictures of Nic, whether he likes it or not. January February March April May June July August September October November December  He is my best guy. This year was especially hard on him because of my injury. I know how much he did to make my life a little easier and to help me heal.  XX

January Sometimes I wake up and my life is so good, I can hardly believe it is mine. Sorting through photos of 2024 reminded me of how incredibly lucky I am. Truth be told, it is hard to choose just one photo each month because some months, like June, Nic and I took probably 1,000 amazing photos. Other months, like September, I took only a handful. As a result, I actually split my best of into two groups: The Family, and then Nic and I.  In choosing these photos I tried to capture significant, and meaningful events of our year through my eyes. This year I went to Flagstaff twice, Spain, Morocco, Portugal, Albuquerque, and Ohio. I ran a half marathon. Then I broke my femur and had surgery. I spent the second half of the year wobbling through life as best I could, but I am getting stronger by the day. February March April May June July August September More September October November December  It is a wild, wonderful, beautiful life filled with so many wonderful people and such ...