Goodbye to Summer, Hello Swamp Witch

And POOF just like that, summer is over. Now we can get on to the one thing New England is known most for, autumn and fall foliage.

It’s been a bizarre week yet uneventful, if that even makes sense. It’s not rained in months but twice it seems, and everything outdoors has long dried out and perished. The once vibrant waterways and ponds that survived are low in water and covered with a slimy green soup. I was very surprised to see mallard ducks gliding through the mess because there can’t be much left to nourish them in the water and won’t an algae bloom make them sick? 

The bizarre of the week was first my husband’s car died and after fixing his mine suffered the same fate within days. The next event was son somehow hurt his back and is stuck at home. The icing on our cake is another home we liked was sold as fast as we found it. As an optimist I believe everything happens for a reason, my husband not so much.

We had gone out on a last minute drive to a couple of spots my husband likes fishing and hiking around. The first pond we visited is tiny but has a trail or two around it. It’s a nice place to bring kids to learn to fish, or to snap some scenic or nature photos. Most locals refer to it as a nuisance because it’s a known mosquito breeding area. Actually this summer we experienced little to no mosquitos anywhere and for that I  thank the dry weather. 

For myself anywhere we go is a new adventure, and an opportunity to put my old cameras to work is always a win. This time I brought my husband's Canon point and shoot. I’m still shook from falling into the lake off the dock with my gear. I literally discovered big purple bruises in places nobody should bruise after the fact. It wasn’t just a fall, I hit the wooden pillars holding the dock up like a ping pong ball on the way down. Regardless, we go back to camp in three weeks and I can’t wait.

Today I shot off an email to the agency I’m still employed by during my lay off. My hope is that I’ll get an answer if I can return to work soon and do part time instead of full time. At first myself and others were told the end of June we’d be called back yet here we are on the eve of September. If all else fails I’m always guaranteed work for the holiday season of November through the first of the new year. I don’t feel very useful at home day after day and we certainly can always use extra pay.

 Do people who retire actually enjoy this? I guess my mind isn’t willing to give it up but I admit my body has  been much happier. I was at the point that I was taking medication to physically get through working my nine hour shifts, thankfully that has stopped. Often the cure can be worse than the illness. 

The other complication of my not working since May is my weight gain. I eat once a day and I eat clean when I do eat. My diet mostly consists of protein and vegetables and I don’t snack. I have gained a whole 10 more pounds after already needing to drop fifty from being insulin resistant. During my midlife is when the weight gain suddenly happened. 

I’m not one to panic about being sixty pounds up but I do want to stay healthy. My daughter is on the verge of beginning her own menopause journey and is mirroring the same gain herself. Here come the holidays just around the corner and then there is me giving up anything with sugar in it, this should be interesting. On another note, here are some baby potatoes we salvaged from our dried out vegetable garden. 

The next thing I’m struggling with is accepting my older appearance. For instance how does anyone come to terms with the brown spots, the creases and cracks, and all else on the face? Yes I know it’s normal but it doesn’t mean I have to like it. In my earlier years makeup here and there would hide and enhance my appearance. 

With older crepe skin the last thing one needs is to try and put gobs of makeup over it, all it does is enhance the lines and create a bigger mess. I’ve mentioned before that my eyesight is bad enough I need to wear my glasses to see myself in a mirror. With that in mind I rarely use a mirror to see myself unless I put my hair up. 

 

A couple days ago I happened to have my glasses on in the car and looked in the visor mirror, I’m not lying saying I scared myself. My husband laughed his head off at my reaction of course. I’m honestly at the point in life where looks are concerned all I can do is just hope for the best. 

I told my hub’ we need to find a cabin way out in the woods where I can live happily as the swamp witch I’m beginning to look like. My best friend took the whole subject to another level and sent me the artwork below as a joke. Bah, the hell of aging. Oh and remember the long hair I had?, I had my husband cut it off. That’s for another blog post to come. 

Happy Autumn!  🍂 🎃

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