Tag Archives: sunset

Whatever Makes You Happy

Posted on by
4

Is there anything more decadent than the combination of books and waffles? There is if you add in a sunset drive home with your fella while listening to a podcast about a book.

He and I made a spontaneous trip for books and waffles last night. There’s something about Barnes and Noble that feels so calming and civilized that I immediately feel my blood pressure start to drop. I prefer a good independent bookseller but I like the larger inventory and spacious aisles of the B&N.

I finally bought something I’ve been picking up and putting down for a while.

Waffle House was a little noisy for my taste as the young men running the place had their tunes cranked up. But I couldn’t be upset when they started dancing while they worked. How can you be cranky when you see people having that much fun at work?

On the way home, the sky began to shift from a pretty blue to delicate streaks of pinks, peaches, and lavenders. It was a perfect ending to a perfect evening.

This is the sky over Vinton County Ohio’s Bicentennial Barn. Isn’t it lovely?

Incidentally, I was a cub reporter when the Ohio Bicentennial Commission was painting these barns many, many years ago.

That’s actually how I connected with my Pittsburgh friend Nichola. She was working for the state at the time, the liaison connecting people and rallying communities behind this project to paint a barn in every one of Ohio’s 88 counties. She is a southern Ohio native about my age.

She and I hit it off after meeting just a couple of times. Alas, life took us in different directions and her husband’s job caused them to move to Texas before settling down in her peaceful Pittsburgh neighborhood.

It was a chance encounter on Facebook that reunited us several years ago. Since then, she’s seen me through some challenging times, we’ve traveled together, and shared a lot of laughs. We’ve also shared a few sunrises and sunsets.

It’s funny how people come and go from your life but the right people return exactly when you need them.

I thought about that on my way home and how lucky I am to have good days like this and people who understand me to enjoy it all with.

In case no one has ever mentioned it, try to catch a good sunset or sunrise once in a while. It’s good for your health. And while the waffles aren’t great for your health and maybe another bookstore trip isn’t good for your wallet, they’re good for you too – in their own way.

Friends, pay attention to the comings and goings of the sun, connect with the old friend, take the drive, eat the waffles and do all the things that make your heart happy.

Memories To Hold On To

Posted on by
9

This is just a three day workweek for me since I had a long weekend out gallivanting. No offense to my job or other aspects of my regular life because I’m grateful for all of it…. but … TGIF. 

It’s so easy to get sucked back into everyone else’s troubles, bad work habits, and all the daily annoyances that tug at our brains and demand attention.

For this week, though, I have been working to mentally pull myself away from all of that at least for a moment or two at a time. When my brain starts to latch on to something negative, I take myself back to one particular moment on Saturday night. 

After a glorious day of exploring the shores of a fairytale land called Presque Isle State Park, some light book shopping, and sipping milkshakes, we headed back to the beach to witness the sunset. 

We left our shoes in the car but took towels and jackets. We took books in place of troubles. We took cold drinks instead of worries. 

We staked out a spot on a small peninsula where the waves might trick you into believing you’re at the ocean and not at the Lake Erie shore in Pennsylvania. We dug our toes into the sand and I used my bag as a pillow while reclining to read. 

As the sun began to descend, lower and lower against the horizon, the pleasantly warm day began to feel pleasantly cool. I stood to put on a light jacket. That’s when I noticed a large gathering of gulls on the rocks. All faced the western horizon as though they too were excited to see the cotton candy sky, colors so special that they can only be created by the setting sun. 

And then, without warning, all those gulls simultaneously took off and left us alone to focus on the sky. 

There was a slight breeze and the sand was turning cooler beneath my feet. I shuddered when a young woman waded out into the lake for one last dip in the golden hour. 

I wondered aloud about the water temperature but she was happy doing her thing and I was happy doing mine. 

And this, my friends, is where I am disappearing to in my brain when too much of the real world tries to crowd in this week.  

We all need a happy memory, something with lots of sensory details that we can grab hold of and escape to when the world gets to be too much. I’m grateful for mine and encourage you to dig through your memories for one of your own. If you don’t have one, better go out and make some! 

Long Weekend

Posted on by
7

When I arrived at my Pittsburgh friend’s cute Mt Lebanon neighborhood last week, I was a little bedraggled and lugging a duffle bag so large you could stuff at least one grown adult inside.

I was supposed to prepare for just a few days but was ready for at least two weeks. Lacking the discipline to figure out what to pack, it seems I just took everything.

I called it the manifestation of all that was happening inside my brain as her husband lugged it inside.

And so began our annual Labor Day tradition.

Sometimes we go places. Last year we took the train from Pittsburgh to Philadelphia and hit all the historic sites. Sometimes we stick around Pittsburgh and she gives me the insider’s experience all over her city.

This year we did both – running away for a bit to soak in the beauty of Presque Isle State Park at Lake Erie.

It was somewhere in the middle of that park that I began to breathe better and to remember who I am. Was it when Nichola told me to turn around just in time to see a bald eagle glide across the trees? Was it when we rounded the bend of an overgrown path to unexpectedly find ourselves on shore line? Was it on a striped blanket on a chilly August Saturday as we waited for the sun to set?

I suppose it was in all of these places that I felt true joy and a connection to nature. Verizon doesn’t work great at the island so my phone barely made a peep, making it possible to enjoy life without distraction.

It has been a while since I have been able to hike consistently and comfortably. It has been a long, hard summer with the heat, humidity and a meniscus tear slowing me down.

To stand beneath a blue sky and simply breathe cooler air was such a gift. Sand between my toes as the water lapped at my ankles felt like therapy. To hear the chirp of an osprey as it soared overhead felt like a reward for good behavior. A pocketful of tiny shells and pebbles felt like presents from nature to help me recall the windswept day on the beach when I found myself again.

I’m not sure how many times I have to wear myself out and lose track of my own identity only to rediscover it while adventuring but I’m grateful every time I make my way back to me again.

It’s Time

Posted on by
2

Twenty years from now, you would give anything to have the energy and health you have right now. What are you waiting for? It’s time to take the trip, go back to school, get in shape, start over, and follow your dreams.

Time waits for no one and neither should you. Go do all the things that you’re afraid to say out loud.

Looking For The Light

Posted on by
7

If there’s anything I want you to take from reading here, it’s that life is what you make of it and that your perspective can be shaped and reshaped so that you can be happier. In other words, there’s something interesting to learn and beautiful things to see all around but you sometimes have to go looking for them.

My room on the nineteenth floor of the Hyatt Regency in downtown Columbus came with a view of a parking garage roof, some buildings and highways that criss-crossed as far as the eye could see. Rain and gloom made it appear even more workaday than it would normally seem. I sat by the window Sunday evening, killing time with a writing project while I waited to meet my party for dinner. The view became increasingly attractive as the gloomy, rainy evening  turned into a dark night and nearby buildings and far off traffic transformed into beautiful works of lighted  art. 

I enjoyed seeing how darkness and artificial lights changed my view and I went to sleep looking forward to sunrise. 

When I hopped out of bed the next morning, it was still dark outside and I could hear sirens on the highway far below my window. I was showered, dressed and next to the window again when the sun began to brighten the horizon. First a subtle bit of purple broadened to a brighter line of pink that slowly crept across the entire sky. Colors pushed away the darkness until a bright peachy light washed over the city skyline and into the blue.

A city sunrise is so different than our country sunrises. Light over trees will always be my favorite but this wasn’t a shabby view either despite the parking garage roof and ribbon of highways. There’s something to be said for being open to seeing beauty in the mundane.

Try it for yourself sometime. Go look for something good in the ugly and boring. You may be surprised at what you find.

If You Can’t Say Something Nice

Posted on by
8

I wrote a story for today about idiot tourists who do stupid things and get hurt in state parks near me.

If you think that line reads a little harsh, you should read the story. But you won’t read it because the voice of Bambi’s little bunny friend Thumper rattled through my brain and told me not to publish it.

Remember Thumper? He famously said “If you don’t have something nice to say, don’t say nuthin’ at all.”

Thumper is more or less the voice of my conscience sometimes. And that’s not a bad thing. Sometimes we need to express the negative thing just to let it out and let it go. Trust me, if you hold on to the litany of gripes and grievances you have, odds are good you will explode for all the wrong reasons and at exactly the wrong moment.

Or perhaps just spontaneously combust. Either way, it’s messy.

So, type the thing for your own sanity and then delete the thing for your own well being.

Instead of the angry things I had to say about sightseers who don’t obey rules in dangerous places, I will say this:

1. If you’re a hiker or are someone going for a hike and aren’t sure what to expect, please remember to stay on the designated trails and follow other posted rules.

2. Above, you’ll find a pretty picture from my drive home two nights ago when I saw more bunnies, squirrels and deer than you can shake a stick at. Although, I don’t know why anyone would want to shake a stick at them- especially the half dozen little fawns we saw, all of which still had their spots!

Have a good day, friends. Remember, let go of the negativity sometimes and embrace the beautiful sunsets when you can!