Desert Magnolia

 Getting older seems to require significantly more focus on just general maintenance than earlier life. I make it a point to take pretty good care of myself. I have better years than others, but mostly I stay on top of routine checkups and requisite blood work. I feel like staying on top of things will, hopefully, prevent a big (nasty) surprise at some point.      In the last 60 days I have checked off a bunch of health To Do's:          Mammogram. Check.          Cologard.  Check.          PCP visit. Check.          Gyno visit. Check.     In the next 60 days I will visit the dermatologist for a top to bottom check (s'rsly, she is way thorough...), and an eye exam. I am looking forward to getting new glasses. I am going to try Warby Parker this time. My daughter uses them, and likes them, and they have a store in Albuquerque, so I'm going to give them a ...

     The first blooms of spring are here, and my heart is soooo damned happy to see them! The first daffodils of the year popped open this week. Green hyacinth foliage is looking strong and ready to produce the first truly fragrant blossoms of the season. Tulip leaves are strong...with buds sure to follow in short order.     I go a little nuts in the Spring. I blame the fact that I am a Spring baby, but it could be other stuff too. It could be emerging from dark, cold, windy months feels really good. It could be I feel a connection to the earthiness of emerging green and buds and happy birdsong and a feeling of imminent life...         In any case, we are at the time of year when I look at my heavy sweaters and boots and give them notice - y'all aren't gonna be in my weekly rotation much longer so let's have fun over the next couple of weeks while Winter really releases its grip on us and Spring pops in with warmer, sunnier days and a sense o...

Holy shit, I'm about to complete two full sets of thirty, and to begin my third. My son provided the sets of thirty idea, and I like it. It also kind of made me gag a little to think of it that way, my life, broken into not decades, now, but sets of three decades. I'm not gonna lie, I'm a little intimidated by the idea of not only completing my 50's but entering my 60's. I want to do it with a bang, not a whimper, and I want to power into the whole next era with a bit of aplomb, some grace, a bit of sass, and a fair amount of deepseated optimism about what's ahead. April 4, 1963. It was a Thursday. 7:30 a.m. And there I came after what my mom says was a fairly short though predictably intense labor. My mom, a progressive, used hypnotherapy to manage her labor and deliver me. 7 lb. 8 oz. of baby girl. I was not a good napper, apparently, though Mom could have used more breaks from my energy, which I'm told was considerable. I was 100% on, or dead to the worl...