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Thank you so much for the comments on the last couple of posts. 

We had a lovely week away. It was quite relaxing. A part of me wished I could stay away for longer, another part of me wanted to get back home and get started on things with renewed energy. As I'm British I have to start off with the weather lol. It was up and down. At the beginning of the week, it was pretty chilly. We were glad we had taken warmer clothes along and we bundled up. It wasn't freezing, but the wind was...well, windy and the air was cool. Mid-week it got really hot, too hot really and we were all sweating (we'd taken along clothes for warmer weather too lol). Then it rained a bit - there were enough breaks that I could get out for a couple of long-ish walks. After the rain, the temperature was just right. The part of me that was glad to get home was also glad I wasn't camping this week as the temps are going to be really hot and humid. We're under a heat watch. Ugh. 

I saw some lovely sunrises and sunsets. We went to two different campgrounds and there was one morning at each that was especially lovely. 

After the chilly mornings and wind, I walked out to the beach one morning and the water was so beautifully calm and just peaceful. It was stunning. There was absolutely no-one on the beach for the longest time. 

The water was so calm it was hard to tell where the sky ended, and the reflections began. With all the bad in the world, this just reminds me that there is beauty. 

I am a little energised from my time away, though my energy seemed to wane a little as soon as I got home. I have to not let myself get sucked back down in the day-to-day things and keep my goals and plans in mind. I had some beautiful settings to do quite a bit of thinking while I was away. I'll have to see how well I do about keeping on track. 

I'll share some more photos in the coming posts. I have a bit of catching up to do. I hope everyone has had a good week. 

Mid-Week Post

I'm actually a little ahead of the game - well, rather our son who is coming with us, is behind - so I have time to write and schedule a mid-week post. Hopefully, I'm out somewhere reading a good book and enjoying the outdoors or taking a few photos. 

This week, when we go camping, is a good time to unwind a little and get away from the day-to-day routines of life. I'm going to take a little time to make some goals for the rest of the year. At the beginning of the year, I said I wanted to work on time management. So far, I think I've done pretty well, but I know there is some improvement to make! I think just being outside with no distractions will give me a little more time to think about a plan going forward. I have packed a pad of paper and a pen so hopefully I'll come back feeling refreshed and inspired!

I hope everyone has a good week.

Packed and Ready-to-Go

Almost. 

I'm not quite there yet, but almost. 

It will be nice to get away, to relax and not have to think about things for a while. I have packed a few books from the shelves which I am going to make myself read before any books on the Kindle. The bookshelves are dwindling but there are still too many books I have to read! I might even be able to update the reading list on the blog when I get back lol

I had a good walk today and managed to cross all the things off my list. I managed the drive to pick up husband okay. There was a little eek moment when I find out the road Google wants me to take is closed due to roadworks. I managed to find my way around them and to husband's work. He did drive the car back home! I also had a nice chat with sister. 

We're leaving around nine in the morning. It's about a four-hour drive to the first campground. We might be stopping somewhere on the way. We can't check in until later in the afternoon though. We might also stop somewhere to eat. 

I might check in during the week, but I am limiting internet time. It's a time to just relax and disconnect for a while. I hope everyone has a lovely week

Photo for the day - another collage of phone photos taken at Asylum lake

Plodding Along Through Life

It's been a busy few days. I've been writing lists to try to keep myself on track. We'll be leaving on Friday for our weeklong camping trip. I always feel a little bit anxious before I go on these. I'm not sure why. I know I'm going to have a lovely time. It's going to be very relaxing. I'll be taking a few books and my camera. I'll be walking, reading and sleeping. To be honest, I won't be doing a lot else lol

It's that craziness before you go away though, where you want (or rather I want) everything to be just-so as I leave the house. I'm not sure why, but there is something nice about coming back to a tidy house. I'm not sure everything will be just-so, though. I have to tell myself that's okay. I'll do what I can and be happy with that. 

I have remembered to get out my shower shoes. Last time, I forgot them. I ended up wearing socks in the shower lol. I could not bring myself to go bare footed in the communal showers. I also found some shorts to wear after getting out of the shower rather than struggling to not get my trousers/capris wet. I'll change back into my regular clothes back at the campsite. I have worked out that it will be easier that way!

Tomorrow is another full day. I'll walk with my friend in the morning, do some washing, sort some clothes, do the usual housework, then I have a haircut and later I have to go and pick up my husband from work. He uses a work van, but it has to be left at work for the week. Usually, my son would go and pick him up but he's working out of town. I'm not looking forward to the drive (it's about 40 mins away) but he'll drive back so it will be ok. I have done all of the shopping I needed to do today so I won't have to worry about that tomorrow! 

At the end of the day tomorrow (hopefully another blog post) I'll be all set and packed and pretty relaxed about leaving Friday morning. 

Some photos from our other walk on Sunday

Behind - As Usual

It's the story of my life to be behind on everything!

We had a nice morning out on Sunday. We went by the Poppy Field. It is a field of flowers planted in honour of their son (who unfortunately took his own life after suffering from PTSD) and a family friend. We went early in the morning, just after the rain had finished and the field was empty. We did see one lady leaving on her bike, but otherwise no-one came the whole time we were there. It was really lovely. I took photos with my camera (behind as usual) and a few with my phone. It looked as though they had put up more signs asking people not walk in the field. Last year when we went a lady had plopped herself in the flowers and was taking photos of herself with a drone. Sigh. 

After our visit to the flower field, we took a walk at a new park that has opened. It is currently only open on the weekends. It used to be where the boy scouts went camping but the city of Kalamazoo bought it and is updating trails and such. It was really quite beautiful. There is a Heron Rookery by the smaller lake, and it was fun to watch the baby herons in the nest making noise. It is supposed to open daily sometime in the near future, and I definitely think it will be somewhere to check out next Spring when the herons are building their nests. 

We were home by early afternoon. I did a limited amount of sorting a few bits and spent the rest of the afternoon just relaxing. A good way to spend a Sunday afternoon!

End of Week

It's been an okay couple of days. I've been doing a bit of sorting (really not much) more moving around from one place to another lol. Husband took several boxes to the charity shop on Thursday. Really quite pleased with all that went. I am starting another box. I just have to work out where to keep it as it seems as I declutter a place, I end up stacking more things that need to go. At least things are leaving the house. 

I had my Asylum Lake meeting on Thursday. It went on for quite a while but was quite productive. I'm still not sure how/whether I fit in. I'll give it a while longer and then see. It seems the people involved are a lot more knowledgeable than me. I feel a little...beneath (not sure that's the right word!) them. I am in charge of social media and seem to be doing an okay job, so I suppose that's something! 

Friday, I went for a walk in the morning and then did a few household things. I messaged with sister in the afternoon. C had some good news and bad. Good news - our brother-in-law's (Sister D's husband) latest scan says he is still cancer free! That's fantastic news! They have finally booked a little getaway and I'm hoping, fingers crossed, they will be able to go. They haven't been away since before Covid. The bad news, Sister C was supposed to be on holiday last week, but they had to come back early as her good friend J's husband passed away. It wasn't unexpected, but sister C wanted to support J as she was such a big support to sister C when she was looking after Mum. 

It will be a quiet weekend here. We are going away camping for a week starting next Friday so we won't be going far this week. What are your plans for the weekend? 

Photos from a walk in the woods

Wednesday

Thank you so much for all the lovely comments on the decluttering. The support certainly makes me want to keep going and keeping track of the items leaving the home. It's a new month and there are already some things in the donate box!

The days keep plodding along, nothing exciting, which is, I suppose, a good thing really. I've been out walking each day. The weather is getting a bit warmer now so most days it's fairly pleasant to be out walking. I'm still going to Asylum Lake and going early as I'm continuing on with my beaver photography project. I am definitely going to rethink my walking options next year. Today I had my small photography group meeting. It's getting easier to talk to people each month though the group is getting smaller! We were a group of seven when we began, now we're just down to the three of us, but it seems to work well for now. Last month we did a small project picking a colour and taking nine photos of that colour. I dithered and changed my mind and finally ended up going with yellow. The photos aren't that adventurous though and I did tell the group that (in the future) I wanted to try to do any of our projects on subjects other than nature unless that was the chosen theme! We'll see how that goes!

Here are my yellow photos. 

Tomorrow is a busy day. My walking friend and I will walk in the morning, but then we'll meet again at 1pm to work on our plant inventory. In between those two things I have to pop in the shops for a couple of things, I need to get a couple of items ready to ship and it's clean the bathroom day tomorrow (yuck!). In the evening, I have an Asylum Lake meeting. It sounds like it might be a long one. It's downtown where I don't like to drive (with maybe iffy parking) so I have asked husband if he will drop me off and one of the other members to drive me home. I'm such a chicken.

May Decluttering Totals

As I mentioned before, I didn't do as well in May as I had hoped BUT we did go away for 10 days and a long weekend. I am continuing with the decluttering, so I'm trying to focus on the positive and keep moving forward. 

CRAFT - 7

MAGAZINES - 4

BOOKS - 58

MISC. - 20

The craft items - shaking my head. The books, well I'm really pleased about those! I am definitely finding them easier to get rid of. There are still a lot in the house, but the bookshelves are beginning to be a bit more manageable. I haven't purchased any more new ones and only a couple of used ones (non-fiction) that I plan on looking at and re-donating). 

June is going to be another rough month, I think. We're going away for a week in June so that might cause a bit of a decluttering wobble, but I am going to continue on. Hopefully, that craft total with be a little higher. 

I think at the beginning of the month, I had said that I wanted to get the front porch organised and cleaned off. It is almost finished. I will have it done by the weekend. Husband built the bench (that has an area for storage). I have taken care of all the boxes that had gathered on the porch. I chose which ones I would likely use and recycled the rest. I have yet to clean off the carpet and take care of a couple more items. I will have it done by the end of the week. We have a rubbish pick-up first Friday in June so there are a few things that are being put out on the curb for that. Husband is also going to take a load for donation at the charity shop this week too. I'm really pleased with the progress. 

Speaking of progress. I am quite pleased with the state of the living/dining rooms. I have been working on them for a while, and they are beginning to look a lot more how I would like them to look. There's still a bit to be done, but they are coming along. 

I wish I had a house-y photo to show, or even a decluttering photo, but I keep forgetting to take any.