On turning 81

 It's a "no big deal" birth year. But still an accomplishment, if longevity is the ultimate prize. As my 90 year old friends have told me, they never expected this to happen, it just happened to them. 

The woman across the courtyard just had her 98th birthday last week.

So I feel a puny little 81.

It has been a year that I should mark for some of the good things that I experienced.

For my 80th birthday my 3 sons gathered with most of their kids (mostly adults now) and one of the three wives. We rented this huge cabin in nearby woods and just did things together!

Will, Cayenne, Audrey, Russ, Caroline, me, Tai, Marty and Michael...Kendra was on the camera. Michelle and Kate and Barbara B. couldn't attend!

And some friends also threw me a surprise lunch birthday party at Ole' Guacamoles! From front, Suzanne, with Helen behind her, then Linda, me, Cathy, and Teresa.

So that was an eventful birthday.

I started the year 2023 dealing with frequent fevers of unknown origin...which sometimes made my coughing frorm Bronchiectasis worse, and sometimes didn't. So again I took various medications in hope of cures. Basically I missed planned activities more and more, and felt separated even more from my family of friends in my church...more than just COVID had done. I was worried every time I attended anything, and wore my mask.

I was "fired" after not paying good attention to the meetings I was missing...from editing the monthly newsletter, Tidings. I had made some mistakes, but as all editors do, had corrected them the next month. I diligently published something each month from January 2019 to March 2023, many times taking photos myself, writing articles on a theme that either was suggested by others or I came up with myself. Because of my frequent sicknesses I never received any recognition for all these volunteer hours. One woman was shocked and thought I had been given a raw deal. She thought the job of those monthly newsletters must have been hard. I had to laugh, as I enjoyed the creativity which I had transferred from art to a newsletter.

Welll that sounded like a couple of negatives to start the year off.

Another group caught my attention - the Swannanoa Wateshed Action Network (SWAN). They met each week for at least 2 hours...and had lots of different interests related to ecology and environment, and the climate changes happening locally.  

I came originally to one of these meetings in Sept. 2022 with a friend who had made an art installation about how people react to climate crisis. My friend had also started a group called Climate Conversation.  I continued to attend the SWAN meetings whenever my health allowed. Sometimes I had to leave early. Here is a link to my post about Suzanne Ziglar's art installation "Consider Climate Change, a Conversation. "

I continued my interest in SWAN water because they were working with Kate Raworth's theory of Doughnut Economics, as it could be applied to a workshop. The SWAN members also demonstrated cicular and shared leadership in it's meetings, which appealed to m.

We even played a game from the New York Times called "Save the Earth" with various environmental choices for each team. And then when summer began, the networking group all had other interests to attend to, and the meetings stopped. I missed them, but had no way to see another gathering happening soon.

The Climate Conversation group (at the UU Church) has become a core group of women working in their own environments to do things for the earth. For me, I write articles in my blog "When I was 69" about climate chaos, and I buy books that are good resources about climate change, and read most of them. I  have shared about the Doughnut Economics model as I understood it. Ilike meeting with this core group monthly, where we share and laugh together.

I have decided my "When I was 69" blog would be where I could express my opinions...so I have. One post featured a 15 minute interview with Greta Thunberg, who is usually so serious about Climate Chaos, but here she had the giggles. 

Yes indeed, laughter, and playing are important parts of our balance in our lives.

But I had a hard time of the winter of 2022-23. I might have been depressed, perhaps from SAD (Seasonal Affective Disorder) which is related to lack of sunlight. No longer having Tidings to compile monthly left a big hole in my writing.

Then in the spring I spent several months changing my eyesight by having my cataracts removed, first one and then two weeks later the other. It took a month before I could get a new glasses prescription. 

I enjoyed posting 31 women's photos and bios in Women's History Month, of March of this year. Not sure if I'll do it again though.

As spring came around, I rejoyced in seeing the beauty of flowers. I tried when I felt well enough to walk more, because I didn't like being so limited in my breath or muscles to no longer be able to walk a half mile. Still working on that!

The Climate Conversation group hosted an Earth Day event at Lake Tomahawk with lots of great displays about the environment. The weather was iffy, but we felt it was a good success.

Carlos, me, Heather and Robertson at the Earth Day SWAN display. Here are more photos of the event.

I took a couple of day trips with friends. These excursions are mileposts to me, providing completely new environments to visit and share on blogs.

The Vance museum and old buildings.

Us Three Non-muskateers visited Asheville for lunch and a movie, and earlier had a trip to Burnsville NC.

And in the last few weeks I've had major medical treatments to hopefully solve a couple of the recurring problems I've had physically. One suggests I may be reacting to mold in my environment. That means, as soon as I feel well enough, to put on a mask and get out bleach and rubber gloves to tackle what I can see (like the cracks around the windows). But I also am aware my bathroom may have mold within the walls. I wipe down the shower after I dry myself each time now. But I may soon move my bed into another room, further away from the bathroom. 

The last BIG birthday had been when I turned 70...when everyone gathered in Jensen Beach where one daughter-in-law's parents had a condo, and the rest of us stayed in a nice nearby hotel. That was 2012!

From front to back on left, Will, Cayenne, Caroline, me, Russ, Michelle, Tai, Kendra and Kate...with Marty on camera.

Flashback to 2012...The first Mudbuddies group, making things at the Clay Studio and selling them at the Saturday Black Mountain Tailgate Market each week! I think 2016 was my last year as a Mud Buddy, but I was still active in other venues selling my pottery, often in a booth with Cathy! Ah memories!

Cathy Babula, Pat Levi, Elise Reed, Bette Potter Jones, Marsha Cozart and myself at 70.

So here I am being finished with 81 years, looking forward to each day as it comes. No big plans on my horizon at this time. I will have lunch at my favorite restaurant with a good friend. I do have a goal of better health! That's always a goal worth doing something for. But the other day I realized there's just one letter different between meditation and medication. I've been looking pretty heavily at medications lately, so started meditating again. My focus for the first attempt was the chant.

May the long time sun shine upon you,

All love surround you,

And the pure light within you,

Shine your way on. (I used "home")

I now spend evenings binge watching old TV series, and now am hooked on Dark Winds, which is only in it's 2nd season. Since Outlander has been on for years, I've gone back to the beginning to watch those. I love seeing fictional characters in history in this way!

Today's quote:

“We forget that nature itself is one vast miracle transcending the reality of night and nothingness,” “We forget that each one of us in his personal life repeats that miracle.”

 Loren Eiseley ( anthropologist and philosopher of science )  in his poetic meditation on life in 1960.