MONDAY MANTRA

[Kathryn-in-Canada]

Well, that's two days' worth of walking rolled into one day!

I'm up to 20,500 steps for the day.

We had a plan. It was a simple plan. Walk to the end of the beach. Turn around. Walk back. Total walk would be around 4.5 miles.

We checked low tide (noon) and headed out at 10:20ish. Figured we'd be back around noon, maybe 1 if the walking was very hard.

Did I mention low tide?

Because it was low tide, the 'end of the beach' became undefined and we kept walking. All the way to Capitola. We got there about 12:05.

Along the way we admired the crumbling cliffs and trees that had tumbled off them.

We had the devil of the time getting off the beach and onto the esplanade by the beach. It involved finding a path through all the logs washed up and then a bit of climbing up onto the seawall over the 'closed beach' barricade.

Now we needed a new plan. There were some choices but we had to figure out the plan quickly:

1. Immediately turn around and walk back by the beach (in order to beat the tide.) The problem with this plan was I needed a break after walking over 3 miles and it wouldn't be safe to stop for about 45 minutes until we were around the bluffs that should have stopped us in the first place. At that point, there will be no services until we are back in Aptos.

2. Rest, preferably while having a snack or light lunch (remember, Ken doesn't eat lunch) and then head back walking on streets.

3. Rest, maybe explore the waterfront of Capitola and then take a bus or Uber back to Aptos. The downside with this plan was that it meant we had to learn the bus system.

We settled for #2, and had a light snack of cheese, chips and a soda for me, just cheese for Ken and downloaded the google maps for the area and mapped out a route. There are few sidewalks here and we'd be walking between towns so we were looking for a route that would keep us away from traffic if possible. A local suggested taking the railroad tracks. This is safe (the municipality owns the tracks but hasn't put in any service) but I wasn't sure whether or not it would be safe due to the mudslides. Hold that thought.

We ended up walking along a road with a bike lane so had a 'safe' place to walk. We were treated to some spectacular views but then the road narrowed due to road works and the railroad tracks were right there and we were turning off in a moment anyway, to get into a state park, so we decided to take the tracks.

You guessed it. The road works were because a giant eucalyptus tree had fallen across the tracks and across the road. They had cleared the bit on the road but the tracks were blocked.

Turned back and found people walking up the embankment from below. They had got to the end of the beach (due to higher tide they were stopped) and were working their way from Aptos to Capitola, so had now found the tracks. We took the path down to the State Park parking lot and then back up the other side because I wasn't thinking - at that point the beach would have been safe but I had it in my head we'd go for ice cream up on the bluff.

Thankfully the State Park workers are trying to get the trails back in service so had done a lot of clearing and marked one detour. We wiggled our way through the closed park and then along a road beside the freeway and finally back to Aptos. Stopped for ice cream, plus waited out a rain shower, and then worked away back down to the beach because that was the shortest (and safest since there are no sidewalks here) route back. Total walk was 19,200 steps for me, or almost 8 miles in total. And yes, I'm sore.

Along the way we had wonderful views though.

The weather was to be cool today, high 52, but it seems much warmer. I was layered up: t-shirt, long sleeve t-shirt over that, light cardigan, coat. At once point I was down to the t-shirt and the light sweater and only because I needed the pocket of the sweater to hold my camera.

Thankfully I had a walking stick because I relied heavily on it as the day went on.

Anyway, the day is over now. It is coming up on 5 and we'll run over to the grocery store and pick up some salad and maybe some rolls. We still have half the cooked chicken left over from last night's dinner so we'll have that, salad, popcorn and leftover pizza (1 slice each) for supper.

[Nancy]

Kids are gone. We had left over soup perfect weather for it with snow on the mtns. Br-r its too cold outside.

[Emptynester]

Hello all.

I know I said I would be back more often, but it isn't like the old days when this was my home page on the computer. I seldom get on the computer any more except to do church work. Now days it is my smart phone or Kindle, neither one has a home page.

Still feeling good and maintaining my weight loss. I am now going thru my closest for the third time to get rid of too big clothes.

DH doing better but we still have an appointment with Dr. to get baseline test for memory. His seems to be getting a bit worse all the time.

We have had a lot of rain this winter and the desert is starting to bloom. Some of the hills are covered with yellow flowers.

Oh! The biggest thing - - - we sold the RV. For the first time since the 90's - we don't have an RV. We decided we could rent one for the little bit we used it in the last few years.

That's about all from here. I still use the She methods when I clean, but not often. I now have a cleaning lady every other Thursday.

Life is goo when you get old.

[cats]

Emptynester so good to hear from you I have missed your adventures, I don't post often but I always read what you were up Please come back often

[lucylee]

So good to hear from MT -- and Cats! (((HUGS))) for Mr. MT!
BIG WTG on the weight loss, MT!

WOW -- Just WOW -- on today's walking, Kathryn. * whew * I don't know how you did it! You are sooo much more adventurous than I am.

Ha ha... I can hear y'all: "Lucy's not adventurous AT ALL." LOL...

Smiling at LadyM's dgs's happiness with new puppy.

Lynlee, my hair is up in a clip on the back of my head right now. I tend to do a ponytail or clip it up like this probably at least 75% of the time, but it's about the same length as yours. I like it long enough to have the option of putting it up, and like someone else said earlier, long hair is just easier. IMHO

Kinda jealous of Lynlee & Kathryn's beach walks... although I would have just sat down and cried if I had been with Kathryn & Ken!

I am able to recover, and do the good ordinary things of life.

Good mantra, Lynlee.
I'm so glad dmom has discovered this to be true for herself, I must say. She said she spoke up in church last night to give thanks for how far she has come in the last year or so. It was about this time last year, y'all remember, when she fainted and fell into the shower stall, getting a concussion and scaring me half to death!

Nancy, today was completely child-free for us! Friday was also, but with dh's health, we certainly needed some quiet time. Yesterday, we only had dgs (awake) for the time it took to dress and get to church, so it was basically child-free also. Tomorrow, I think ds & the grands will eat supper with us, and then Wed. we will have them from around lunch time till past midnight, I guess.

So glad you have your phone & internet back, Sunny! That can be so frustrating! We've had chipmunks eat our wires before.

Still no refund because gee, maybe over the next SIX MONTHs I will owe them enough that they would have the right (?) to keep my money during that time.

And talk about frustrating... good grief, Harriet. This is ridiculous.

I am waving to ALL, and thanking you all sooo, sooo much for your good thoughts and prayers for dh. He seems to be breathing better right now, and he has actually napped a bit since we got home from eating supper. OTOH, he is concerned b/c his heart rate has jumped up again. I told him to just FORGET about that for a while... to please just relax and concentrate on getting himself to being able to breathe and sleep again. There will be time enough for the heart doctor to take care of the heart rate next week. I'm certainly no doctor, but I just can't help but think he will get a much better report next week if he has been able to sleep some, and if he can get some of this fluid off. (More in J&C).

Anyway -- TA-DA for me! I TOLD y'all I would do better when I got home.
I have vacuumed the master bedroom & bath, first load of laundry is hanging to dry, second load of laundry is in washer.
I also s/s two main baths, and -- wouldn't you know it -- within ten minutes, dh had used BOTH bathrooms. If I had gone back to ds's bathroom and cleaned it, he'd probably have found a reason to go back there, too, LOL.

[Kathryn-in-Canada]

Lucylee: you would not have cried. The first part of the walk, from Aptos to Capitola was just too interesting to even think about how far we were going.

Now, had we ended up someplace away from civilization, it would have been worse.

Instead, a women sitting up on the esplanade guided us up to her (she could see a path through the logs that we couldn't see) and then we had a nice chat. From there we went to a nice deli for our snack. They had wifi so we could assess our options.

Once in Capitola we had options. Sending for an Uber is likely the one you would have chosen, but there were options so once you commit to the next plan, in this case, walk 3.5 miles for ice cream, it is just a matter of working the plan. Although, I have to say while on the railroad tracks facing the downed tree and then on the trails with detours, my energy was flagging and it was just "I have to get past this" that was driving me forward (especially in the State Park since it was closed so sending for an Uber was not an option.)

I missed lunch in all this. Not the calories lunch would have provided, but healthy, planned, food. Instead, I had a bag of cheetos and a piece of cheese at the deli, then two scoops of ice cream, and finally carrot sticks and hummus plus some potato chips once we were at the hotel.

Dinner was a couple of ounces of chicken, a salad, and pizza. Plus a glass of milk. I have a greek yogurt for my dessert when I get hungry. And if I'm still hungry, an apple with Nutella or cream cheese to go on it.

Tomorrow's lunch is planned (a roasted chicken sandwich and salad.) Tomorrow's dinner is In N Out.

I'm rather tired now. The photos from today are great. It will take me forever to write it up and add the photos.

We saw a sea otter floating on his back, and the beach houses and cliff houses were amazing. Especially the cliff houses with large amounts of their decks overhanging because the cliffs have crumbled away. There was a huge tree on the beach at the foot of a cliff. Later we walked along the road it fell from. Funnily enough, there's an apartment building across the street and suddenly it has a better view because the tree is gone!

[Emptynester]

I worked on the computer and logged the URL for this page book marked so I can get on easier.

Oh, I forgot one other new thing in my life. I am taking a page from Kathryn in Canada book and going to try my hand at giving a sermon at our church. We give the pastor the Sunday off if there are 5 Sundays in a month. So I will bring the message on July 30. That should give me enough time to get my courage up and July attendance is the lowest of any other months so it should be good.

We are working on a new website for our church. I will list the URL when we get it live. It is really fun picking out the pictures and working with the new site.

Well, time to take Dakota out for her bedtime potty walk and then get ready for bed.

TTFN! Nighty nite.

[Nancy]

Kidfree till Wed. Here. 33* out and we have rain in the forecast all week. I did not ex. Today first in a long time that I did not but was to cold a bit under the weather. Finished up working on this batch of puppets. we have the possibility of snow tomorrow again don't think it will be much.

[Kathryn-in-Canada]

Emptynester have fun with the sermon. My minister from way back used to say everyone has one sermon in them. I used to lead services for over a decade before he left but it was only once he left and I was filling in while we looked for a new minister that I decided to test that theory and wrote my first sermon.

Just finished my travelog for today and got that sent. It is really long but mostly pictures.

It really was a fun day.